I love to go see Grandchildren perform. I do not live close to most of the grandkids, but this last weekend I had the pleasure, enjoyment, laughs and pride of seeing two of my granddaughters perform in their first dance recital.
Both girls are three years old and leading up to this recital one of them took the whole roll very seriously. I watch her every day and when I had a doctor appointment about 65 miles away my husband took the day off and we spent it in Austin with her.
Hubby likes fabric stores as much as I do so we were having fun going to the stores and looking around. Scout’s mother had sent a cute jumper for her to wear and she looked adorable. One problem was, she would not keep it down but kept pulling it up over her head. After the umpteenth time of telling her to keep her dress down I finally said “put your dress down. It is not the proper thing to be walking around with your dress over your head and your panties sticking out” She obey and pulled it down, ran her hands down it straightening it all out and remarked “It is tough being a princess”. (All this after she was told to not look under the bathroom stalls and watch other people going to the bathroom, to which grammie said “Stop that, young ladies do not peek under the door and look at other people” . Her answer? “Well, I am NOT a young lady”.
Here is the “princess” getting ready for her performance.
Watch both performances below! My Two granddaughters are the 3rd and 2nd from the right.
Anyone following either of my blogs knows I watch my 3 year old granddaughter every day. She and I are a team and love doing many of the same things. PAPA says I spoiled her by making her love animals so much, but I do not agree. Her dad is a hunter and watches animal programs with her, all Dora’s friends are animals as well as Diego, Kai Lan, Wonder Pets and many of the kids shows. Not sure why I get blamed!
One of the things we love to do is go for walks. Our favorite thing is to walk the 3.2 miles to where PAPA works and have lunch with him. This past Wednesday we did just that. Half way there is a laundromat with a nice clean bathroom. We usually make it that far before she has to go (ahem, good excuse anyway, usually I am getting bad by then too).
As we were leaving the laundromat there where the drive meets the road, was a roadkill. An opossum was laying there, mouth open and run over. There was no blood, just a dead opossum that had tire tracks on it, but she was fascinated. She wanted to look at it and made lots of remarks about it’s teeth and big mouth.
For the next mile and half she talked about the opossum’s situation. (Well, with the exception of the short time she asked if we could please go to a garage sale because she really really wanted to go…. another love we both have!) She asked about how it got hit and I was able to talk to her about playing in the street or crossing the street so she did not get hit. She informed me that if what happened to the opossum happened to her then her mom would be very sad.
She saw two squirrels playing in the road and told them to get out or they would end up like the opossum. More conversation about death followed and she informed me that if that happened to her mom she would be very sad.
All this week she has talked about the opossum and asking questions about it. Do they growl? Can it growl now? Do they bite? Can it bite now?
It has been a good time of learning for her and I want to use it to its fullest as she talks and asks questions. Not just about playing in the road and getting hit, but about death itself.
It has been learning for me too. Having her by herself and not with other kids has given me opportunities that many times are missed when you are a parent and dealing with everything. Daycare does not provide this learning. However, for me it is one on one with her all day. Yes, I have things I should get done, things I need to get done, but they sit. At my age they sit for some time at times as I am too tired at night to stay up late and do them. However, God has blessed me with this little girl to enjoy, work with and help understand life and Him.
Use your opportunities to the best. Encourage their questions and not push them off. Little ones learn and want to learn way more than we give them credit for at times!
I have to admit that when I first found out I was going to be a grandmother I cried. I did not want to be a grandmother, never. A grandmother was old. Now, before you think anything, I loved my grandmother. Really lived her. Growing up I had great grandmothers alive too, and they were special. It was fun to go to their homes, even though they were old.
For me though, I just hate getting older. Having one of your kids make you a grandmother just meant that kid was making you age way faster than you ever wanted to. So I dreaded it.
That was many years ago now. I soon learned that while I dreaded being a grandmother it was fun. My first grandchild I got to spoil a bit and then send home. WOW, way better than your own kids, you could not spoil them as they were already home, you had to live with it. Then the second grandchild came along and she would not go home! Ivy wanted to stay with me all the time. People thought she was my own child and she acted it as well. I rather enjoyed knowing I was grammie and yet people were saying things about my daughter and Ivy got to where she just went along with it and we laughed together.
Now, we have 19 grandkids, two of them are step from my daughters marriage, but loved the same. I still can keep up with the little one I keep everyday and enjoy all the laughs that come with it.
I thought I would share my yesterday with you:
Scout is not going to be 3 for about 6 weeks yet, but she has been much like my own kids were, talked early and thought way too much. It keeps you on your toes and you never know what is going to come out of their mouths, and come out very clearly.
Backtrack a bit. My one daughter was allergy prone, very bad, and would get extremely sick over a number of foods. As a result they told me the best thing was to keep nursing her till she no longer wanted it. This way she was sure to keep her nutrition up and get a good start in life. Well, she no longer wanted it at 2.5 yrs! However, she was talking very clear before a year and would very nicely ask to nurse, loudly and clearly. She had no idea that sitting in church was not the right time to very loudly and clearly say “I want to nurse Mommy”.
Ok, now, this is the way Scout has been, loud, clear and very articulate.
Back to yesterday. I had to run around and pay some bills as well as go to the bank etc. Later in the day I had a vet appointment for our dog and so wanted to get started early. I dressed Scout, got her in the car and we headed out.
Scout loves yard sales so we did not get too far when she said she wanted to find some yard sales while we were out. I told her if we found any we would stop. She then reminded me how much she like yard sales and wanted to go.
We stopped at the bank and were heading to the first bill paying stop when I pulled into the local radio station to get their daily radiogram. This little paper has a quick update on local news, classified section, and a garage sale list for the area. I got the paper and went to pull out in the traffic but had to get across two lanes to make the turn to where we needed to go pay a bill. After waiting a bit I hit the gas to make it across the traffic.
Scout: WOW we ZOOMED! I like to zoom, zoom some more
me: I only zoomed to get across the road, we did not want to get hit
Scout: Zoom more grammie, I like zooming
Me: Lets get in and pay the bill
Scout: then we zoom more and go to a yard sale?
We now pay the bill and get in the car. Before the seat belt is done she is yelling to zoom more!
I get to the next place, pay the bill and get back in the car. More requests to zoom and go to a yard sale come. I dig out the paper and start looking for any sales that might be on a Friday.
I am semi reading out loud and then came to an ad that gave directions and then ended with “Lots of stuff” .
Scout: Did it say lots of stuff?
Me: Yes, that is what the ad said
Scout: Good, cause I like BIG YARD SALES. Let’s zoom there.
I drove legally there and we looked all around and she really enjoyed herself. We then get in the car to go home and as I am going down their long drive (I live in Texas, it is all long driveways!) I told her we had to pay one more bill and then get home. She needed to eat lunch early and get an early nap since we had to go to the vets when she would normally be sleeping. She listened and then said:
“Grammie, drive slow. Do not zoom.”
Me: why not, you wanted me to zoom all morning
Scout: Not now, do not zoom. Go really slow
Me: I do not understand, why do I need to drive really slow?
After a few more questions it comes out: “I do not want to take a nap”.
The rest of the day went about the same, as do most days with her. I laugh so much and find being a grammie is fun. Sure, when you have them all day every day you can’t spoil as much, but I would not want to trade having them around either. I wish I lived near all of them so I could enjoy them. How I miss the others.
I hope that these kids have fond memories of their grammie like I do of mine.
I love my grandkids. Scout is here all the time and I get to enjoy a two year old again. Scout is one of the only kids I have ever known that tells on herself. No need to lie, she just tells you what she did. “I broke this” “I spilled this” etc.
Her favorite past time now is the kittens. She will disappear and hide in the room with them. Very often I find her picking one up by the neck and playing with it. We “talk” about it and then she turns around and does it again.
The other day this is how she came to me:
“Hey Grammie, Look at the kitties HAVING FUN SHOPPING”. I be they were!
Today she said came to me and said “Grammie, you are having a birthday soon and I love you” With that she began to sing “Happy Birthday” to me and then said she was going to give me a present. She was giving me “wrinkles”. Yup, you heard it! I asked several times, and she said the same thing over and over.What she means, I do not know, but at my age I do not want to hear the word! So, come Sunday I guess I will find out what “wrinkles” is.
I sure hope it is not the right word she is using!
Yesterday I was busy trying to get through my email so I could get to my sewing. While I was doing this I was interupted by my granddaughter’s little voice. When I looked down she was holding her shirt up a bit and saying “Grammie, my tummy hurts”. She then said “medicine?”.
While getting up I asked her if it felt like she had to go “poopy” and she said “no”. Calling her mom it was confirmed she has not been constipated or having any problems so I told her I would give her a rolaids and see what happens.
Scout and I went to the bathroom cabinet and I dug out the rolaids that was for gas or indigestion and handed her one. She held it and looked at it funny and then me funny, I told her to take it and see if it would make her tummy better.
She walked out to the TV and “Dora”.
Few minutes later: “Grammie, not working, tummy hurts”. As she turned around I saw her shirt up a bit and there she was holding the Rolaids on her belly button!
Trying not to laugh at her I told her try taking it and eating it and then it should work. She looked at the Rolaids again and said “OHHHHH” and ate it.
Five minutes later: “Grammie, worked! All better!”
Sometimes I wonder how many times things would be “all better” if we would just do things right— God’s way!
