2nd Grade Show And Tell- Family Heirloom

I forgot writing about this earlier, it's been almost 2 years, but hey, better late than never. 

For 2nd grade winter break assignment, the theme for project work was- family. Little miss Haana had to interview her grand parents or family about how growing up was different for them. She also had to prepare to show a family heirloom and talk about it in class. 

She wrote her interview questions and then called up nana, nani in India on how it was growing up back in the mid 19s for them. Some things do remain the same - she discovered they were naughty at school too, they liked hanging with their friends in school, took home lunches, liked recess time. But some things were different - they had to walk or bicycle to the school, the school didn't have any laptops or devices, school was more strict with teachers who were not that fun, and classrooms were uninviting.

The family heirloom project had me scratching my head.. what family heirloom? Then somehow i remembered something.

My nani (maternal grandma) was very good at sewing, embroidery, knitting and crochet and a whole bunch of other things. As a little girl I used to love my dolls. I still do even though I didn't actually have so many dolls then. Nani had stiched several fancy dress for my doll. In the winter time, she knitted sweater dresses for her. Fancy dress with multi-colored wool and custom belt and tie-back ribbon. I loved these dresses and my doll changed her clothes every now and then! 

A few years back, when visiting my parents in Delhi, my mom handed me these dresses and since then they are with me in my dresser. 

Those handful of doll-dresses are my family heirloom! They're so cute and precious. And they represent the unique bond I shared with my nani. I didn't actually learn how to sew or knit from her; at that time growing up, I wanted to be like a boy. And those skills were too girly for me. Now i don't think of skills being girly or boyish. 

For little miss Haana's class show and tell project, she prepared her speaking part. We wrapped one of the dresses carefully in a ziplock bag, attached it to the rest of project work on a big cardboard. In class, she narrated her story of heirloom and little bitty dresses to her fascinated friends while her teacher recorded her. All her friends wanted to see the dress up close, touch it,  marvel at it like I have for the past decades.

Of course I only breathed easy once the dress was back home, and safely back into my dresser with the others :-). That's where a family heirloom should be!