And to the Present

Last week, I had the opportunity to spend the whole week with my daughter and granddaughters who live not too far from here. What a privilege to be able to see your own posterity in action and enjoy children the way we all should. It is unfortunate we don’t often derive the same pleasure from our own children as they are growing up as we do when they are our grandchildren. As grandparents, we get to step back, laugh, play, hug and enjoy these tiny beings probably much more than we enjoyed their parents. The joys of being a grandmother.

Ellie is 2 years and Emma 3 months and both have already very distinct personalities. Emma loves to be held and is easily entertained by what is going on around her. While Ellie, makes her own entertainment. There’s no sitting down and watching, except an occasional Dora or Mickey cartoon. Emma has three stages in her life right now, sleep, eat, awake and the cycle starts again. Ellie, on the other hand, is always busy doing something and eating and sleeping are not high on her list of “activities” although she does go to bed around 8pm and takes a 2-hour nap every day. But while she is awake, there are discoveries to be made. And, Ellie’s favorite words are, “Ellie do it!” She likes us to help get things started, like zipping zippers, putting food on her plate, opening doors, but once we get her started, she helps herself.

I think my favorite time this week was when Ellie and I took our walks. The first morning, the walk was not long but it was cold. We were looking for flowers but obviously in the winter, they are few and far between. Except for one, nearly-dead plant, we only saw some plastic flowers several people had planted in their yards to give them some color, I am sure.
The second walk was way more interesting because the sky was blue and sun was shining. We walked for nearly an hour and I without my camera! The day before I had had Ellie stand quietly so she could hear the birds. I am not much of a birder, but I do know a robin when I see one and there were lots of them. I quieted Ellie with my finger to my mouth, so now Ellie knew how to quiet me, so we could listen to the birdies.

We also came across a boulder that was shaped so that there was a seat and back just big enough for Ellie. She loved sitting there. After that, she had to try every large rock she found. I warned her the pointed rocks were not suitable for sitting, but she found many that were just her size.

We also first heard then saw a waterfall. Someone had a huge tower of basalt in their yard which they had turned into a waterfall complete with pond and goldfish. What a wonderful sound to hear on a brisk, sunny day. Near here, we met Snickers, a little white dog that looked like a mop who was working furiously to get to us to say hello. Ellie was apprehensive which surprised me as she lives with two goldens and loves to visit our two aussies. We also looked at pine cones, which Ellie did not seem to care for, and looked at all the cracks in the sidewalks.

We walked for about an hour and it was only the last 5 minutes as we were heading home that she wanted to be carried so like a good Gramma, she got a piggy back ride.

The day we went to story time was so much fun for Emma. While Ellie and Mommy participated in story time at the library, Gramma got to hold Emma who was mesmerized by all the kids and movement that was going on in the room. She was not interested in sleeping or eating; she just spent the whole time in my lap watching the action. She is certainly a curious little girl.

The most fun, though, was watching and listening to Ellie as she expressed herself. While she is not yet speaking in full sentences, the one sentence she knows perfectly is “I like birthday parties.” Apparently, Dora had a birthday party in one of her cartoons and Ellie was hooked. She kept repeating that sentence over and over sometimes dancing in a circle as she repeated it. Once, while I was changing her diaper, she threw her head back and shouted, “I LIKE BIRTHDAY PARTIES!” Too bad her birthday isn’t until the end of November.

Going to the park was the culmination of our week; it also made it easier for Gramma to leave as Ellie was way to interested in playing than worrying about Gramma having to go home to Grampa. Hope she wasn’t too disappointed when she realized I had left. I miss her so…