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.

mouse trap peanut butter

My grandboys are typical.  They like dirt, video games, riding the four-wheeler,  junk food, and the hot tub, not necessarily in that order.  They also look at the world differently than I do...not because they are boys, but because they are 5 years old and new to the world.

Steve picked me up at the airport recently after a business trip and Jack was with him.  It is a treat for the grands whenever they get to go with Gramps to the airport.  On our way home we discussed stopping to get something to eat.  McDonald's was mentioned, but then we decided on somewhere else.  Somehow Jack's ears stopped hearing after McDonald's and he soon saw one looming with a big playground on the front.

Jack: "We gotta stop at McDonald's so I can play."

Me: "No Jack we aren't going to stop today.  I will bring you, Maddie and Dunc back to play one day when I am not tired and we have more time."

Jack (I can hear the gears in his head whirring by now): "You can just drop me off then.  I work there."

Me: "You do?  What job do you do, Jack?"

Jack: "I clean the floors.  They know I am coming so you can just drop me off."

Naturally we didn't buy the bit about the job cleaning floors.  I've seen Jack when he is supposed to be cleaning up here con Maddie into doing it.  They'd never get any work out of him at McDonald's.

jack

One day the boys were missing.  We couldn't find them in any of the usual places they are when we think they are missing (and they aren't).  I knew they couldn't have gone far.  Then I found them.  Under the deck.  With the dog.  In the dirt.  Did I fuss or stop them?  NO WAY.  I firmly believe dirt makes boys grow big and strong.  And besides, that's what hoses are made for.

dunc

                                                                                                     

You are wondering now what that mouse trap peanut butter means.  We live in the country, so occasionally we have a small furry gray intruder.  Mouse traps are set in strategic places.  Steve made two mistakes with Jack.  He showed him a dead mouse in a trap, and he told him he used peanut butter to put on the traps to catch them.  Now every time we have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, Jack always says "that isn't the mouse trap peanut butter is it?"

And of course being the loving Grammy I am, I lie to him and tell him no, it isn't.

That's it for this blog.  I hear Jack jumping on the bed.  I have to go stop him before he jumps too high and rams his head into the ceiling fan.

maddie's earrings

                                                               

I have many earrings.  My ears have been pierced since I was 13.  Many of my earrings were gifts from family and friends, and others I have accumulated over the years.

I think about the star sapphire earrings from Thailand that my dad gave me when I graduated from 8th grade into high school, and how the light when you move them makes a reflection on the stones that looks like a star.  How beautiful I thought those earrings were.  They were my first earrings that were more than just costume jewelry.  Every time I look at them I think of dad.

There are the earrings that Stevie Wonder gave me when we were dating.  Tiger eyes with a scarab beetle carved on them.  The jade earrings given to me by my kids years ago; the earrings given to me by my girlfriend Barb when we were struggling through nursing school that would be small enough to look professional when we went to work as real nurses.  The earrings I picked up on my travels, some Zuni turquoise from New Mexico, more turquoise and silver from Calistoga, California, and the bone, ivory, and beaded earrings I collected in Alaska while I worked as a pediatrics nurse in the tundra.

All my earrings have meaning.  But they aren't really mine.  They belong to Maddie.  I didn't plan it that way.  It just happened.  An epiphany. 
                                                                             

When she was just a few months old, I was holding Maddie in my arms when she noticed I had on earrings.  I thought she would reach up and try to yank them out like most babies when they see bright, shiny dangling earrings.  But she didn't.  She reached up and carefully touched one with her forefinger and thumb.  No yank on my ear, just a gentle touch.  I looked at her and could see the curiosity shining in her eyes.  And that was when I knew my earrings were no longer mine.  They were Maddie's.  As I whispered that in her ear, she smiled as though she understood me.  And since that moment, every time she notices my earrings, I tell her that they are hers.  And she smiles.

kayla's lipstick adventure

My first published blogpost, August 8, 2010.

Kayla loves stuff.  She loves looking for stuff, especially in purses.  Purses are a siren song to her little girl's heart.  So when I heard her mom telling her to stay out of my purse today, I decided to help her avert a scolding by letting her explore.

I walked into my sister's bedroom as her mom was telling her to stay out of my purse and said "would you like to see what is in my purse Kayla?'

Her reply: "YESH!!!"

So I sat down on the bed with her and started to take the "stuff" out.  Now this purse is my traveling bag, holding everything from my passport and laptop, to all kinds of paraphernalia I think I can't get by without.  Kayla was sitting beside me wiggling and I could tell she wanted to get her hands on my stuff, so I asked her if she would like to take the stuff out.... "YESH!!!"

She grabbed her flip flops off her feet so she could hunker down on the bed and put both hands in my purse and started pulling stuff out....in less than 30 seconds she had that big old bag completely empty and my stuff was in a big pile on the bed.  While she was pulling all the stuff out she kept saying in this girly little voice "you got lots of stuff!"  I was laying there cracking up and loving every minute.

I thought she was probably finished, thinking all she wanted to do was pull all the stuff out but nooo...she was just getting started...

Kayla leaned over and started sifting through the pile...and found...

"can I have gums?"

"yes Kayla you can"

gum goes in mouth...then she finds THE prize...the best of the stuff...she finds a...

"LIPSTICKS!!!"

and was so excited she had the top yanked off and smeared on her lips before I could even give her a pointer.  Now I have 4 lipsticks in my purse, and with unerring accuracy she discovers the newest one...and I figured she would break it but it was worth $7 to watch her having fun so I just laid back to watch the show.

kayla discovers lipstick 

Kayla continued to go through my stuff and about every 5 minutes she would grab the lipstick and make another circuit around her lips...about 30 minutes later she had applied about 9 layers of lipstick...and was thoroughly enjoying it...I was laughing inside so hard I could barely contain my own giggles...

then her Grammy and Mommy came to see what she was up to...her dad said she looked like her Aunt Dooj (Vix added "after a glass of wine")...and I grabbed my camera...

 another layer goes on

As I snapped Kayla, her Grammy grabbed a mirror so she could see how beautiful she looked...



                                                                                             

As I snapped photos and watched Kayla enjoying that lipstick, I realized what a moment of whimsy we were all fortunate enough to share, and to look through the eyes of a child and see things from their perspective is a privilege...and those moments of whimsy are the most important of our lives, because they are the most fleeting...

thank you Kayla for letting me share your whimsy....(she got to keep the lipstick too....)