in gramps' steps

This was first published in August 2010.  Since then, Gramps has added John to the list of grandkids who follow him like ducks in a row.  He comes to Gramps, holds up his hand to him, and says "side".  And Gramps melts, takes his little hand in his big one, and outside they go, to look for adventures.  John will be 2 on May 1, and the fun is just beginning...


I hope you enjoy the revisit to this post...one of my favorites...

August 23, 2010
Duncan is dedicated to his Gramps.  It wasn't anything we planned, like a 'you take Maddie and I'll take Dunc' sort of thing.  It just happened.

My personal philosophy is that he loved the feel of laying on top of a beach ball when he was a baby.  That hooked him.  Gramps was nice and round and when he got sleepy he would go straight to Gramps and drape himself out spreadeagled on that beach ball belly and be out cold in seconds.

Duncan also likes to help.  In the kitchen, with the garbage, carrying bags of groceries, you name it and he'll help.  And of course the main toter of tools and work stuff at our house is....

you guessed it...Gramps.  He owns everything a little boy could ever dream of laying hands on.  And Gramps also knows how important it is to a fledgling ego to let him help.  So he does.

When they are in the garden, plowing or picking, Dunc makes every step his Gramps does.  It is funny to watch him keeping up...and he never quits until Gramps does... (most of the time...there was the time he got into the okra and the leaves made his legs sting and itch and he took off for the house because he thought he'd been stung...Dunc doesn't tolerate bug bites well...a mosquito bite on his forehead will form a magnificently grotesque horn on his head....fascinating to behold but kind of horrifying too...)

Not only does he help Gramps, but when he tells you about how he helped Gramps, he's laying it off like a Baptist preacher with one finger high in the air and talking loudly in his deep little voice about what ALL THEY DID... and I always listen...and try to keep a straight face....

At bedtime, guess who sleeps with Gramps?  That's right...I made a futile effort one time to get Dunc to let me sleep with them (it's a king sized bed after all and there is plenty of room) but Dunc said "no you can sleep in the other room I gotta sleep with Gramps... and I can't sleep in the middle there isn't room".  So I was banished.

But there was a time when Dunc was mine....when he loved the softness of a Grammy who adored him (not to worry I still do)...then at some point he decided he was a man's man and gave up the hugs and kisses for the holder of the tools....

which is ok...because when he scrapes himself on one of those tools....

he comes back to me.