Grandparenting

A Brand New BFF

/ Pat / 18 Comments

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My newest great-granddaughter is visiting. The grand-daughter of my firstborn, and daughter of his firstborn, my grandson. Eevee is 6 weeks old and of course she brought her mom & dad along. But the show is all about Evelyn Mae.

We are BFF, decided over long talks while lying on the bed. She is just becoming social so I was fascinated and experienced great joy as I watched her work her tongue around struggling to make sounds, and then smiling at me as we gazed into each other’s eyes. At this stage I did most of the talking – in that high sing-songy voice that I reserve only for babies of a certain age. I know this one-sided conversation won’t last forever, and I’m hoping I live long enough to hear her chatter as she is developing her own narrative life story, or herstory.

Eevee’s mom & dad are going out a lot for quality time together while I am available to take care of Eevee. It is a win/win arrangement giving me the opportunity to really get to know her. She is having trouble adjusting to formula so there has been periods of intense, loud protests that bring back my experiences with colicky babies – and how helpless I felt as a young mother. This time I am calmer, probably because I know she will survive, and my worth as a person isn’t wrapped up in making sure she isn’t scarred for life because I can’t take away her discomfort. I like this type of care-giving much better but have to be honest. A part of my calmness comes from knowing that the parents will take over when they get home so I can get a good night’s sleep.

She has captured my heart. I work hard to calm her when she is in distress, and usually she falls asleep. When this happens she molds to my body and we share our warmth. When I experience the joy of that moment I can’t put her down. I look at her and wonder about her future. I marvel at her small, put perfectly formed anatomy. I think of the miracle of all those tiny cells dividing so quickly to make her grow. And I think about how her brain is developing so quickly making her a part of her environment and a social being. She stares so intently at me, at my mouth as I speak to her, and at the features of the room around her.

And I tell her that the world is really amazing. And I love you, Eevee.

 

Will You Be My Friend?

/ Pat / 12 Comments

I’ve been remembering children’s books the past couple of days. Maybe having a child in the house does that – and I have read lots of children’s books over the years. One of our favorites, I think the boys liked it, was “Will You Be My Friend?” about a little mouse who goes up to all kinds of animals and asks, “Will you be my friend?’ and all of them say “no”. Until he meets up with another little mouse who says yes.

Coming back from buying strawberries this morning, I noticed that the horses were out so Lindsay and I walked over to check them out and of course to take some photos. They were on the other side of the pen when we got there, but after a while they munched their way closer.

Lindsay climbed up on the bottom board so she could see over the fence.

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Lindsay liked the white one best and just maybe the feelings are mutual, but the horse is big and a little, well, intimidating at first.

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Lindsay named the horse “Snowy Chloe”. Grandpa and Lindsay just returned from a walk to check them out and she says that the horse came right up to the fence so Lindsay could pet her this time. Will you be my friend?

A Budding Photographer

/ Pat / 23 Comments

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Meet Lindsay Mary. She is special in very many ways, and not just because she is my granddaughter. She likes to read, and draw, and go bowling, and swing (especially on Grandma’s purple porch swing), and cuddle, and swim, and camp, and go to school. And she is very excited about spending time at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

She brought a camera so it only seemed right that we go for a photo walk this morning. She loves taking pictures and has a very good eye. We made plans to check on the horses this morning, but they must have slept in. With a true photographer’s spirit, Lindsay wasn’t deterred because she said she loves taking pictures of fences. Of course I followed her lead.

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She thought her picture was great and we talked about the neat pattern that wooden fences make. But then she was quickly pulled to the stone corner post and was excited when she discovered how it looked from another perspective.

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There is a lane through the woods, along the horse pasture. It called to us so we followed it. Lindsay thought that her pictures of the lane were perfect and found some interesting trees to photograph. We talked about how pretty the light and shadows were in the woods after last night’s rain.

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It was Lindsay who noticed the small pile of cut wood along the lane and thought it would make an interesting photo.

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And the rusting roll of fencing.

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As we were walking up the lane, Lindsay said it would be fun to take a picture from the other direction so we stopped to do that before we headed back. She thought that taking a vertical photo would be best.

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Mine is horizontal – I think I should have listened to her on this one.

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She was getting tired as we headed back, but we had to stop to take a couple more photos of flowers. Lindsay says she loves taking pictures of nature. Me, too.

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This is what being a grandparent is all about. This evening we have plans to go fishing at the park and having a pizza picnic. She claims it will be an unofficial picnic because there won’t be any rhubarb custard pie. Oh well, we will have fun all the same.