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| She even reads Mama's books and the mail! |
Like Memere, like granddaughter. Baby Bean loves to read. She pulls all her brightly colored board books off the shelf, leans over them, and runs her fingers under the titles. She murmurs significant little sounds complete with inflection, then looks up to see if I've understood what she's just said. "Good job, Bean!" I exclaim and she grins and claps her hands. Then she takes another book, squirms her way into my lap and repeats the process.
She has begun to make important associations. Yesterday we were playing with her jack-in-the-box. She doesn't care about the music. She likes, instead, to press the button keeping the lid closed and pretend to be surprised when the clown pops up. "Ooops!" I crow every time. "The clown is out!" Then over and over I stuff it back down saying, "Get in there clown."
When she tired of that she grabbed some books and handed them to me. One of them was a Sandra Boynton book called Opposites. There was big, small, short, tall. Then, "in, out," I read, following the words with my own finger. She looked at me, a long solemn look, then she crawled off my lap and grabbed her jack-in-the-box. With her tiny forefinger she popped the button on the lid. Out popped the clown. It took a moment for the light to dawn but then, "Oh!" I exclaimed. "You smart girl!" She grinned her 8-toothed grin.
She's on her feet a lot more, taking tentative steps on her own but much preferring to hold my finger as she goes from the toy-littered living room to the kitchen to watch Mama cook or into the bedroom to empty the clothes from her dresser drawer or outside to watch Papa chop wood. She feeds herself tiny bits of food with a loud, running, "Mmmmmmmmmm" that doesn't stop until she is all done, which she indicates with sign language. She's also learning Spanish and will respond to words and instructions in both that language and English.
When it was time for me to leave, she reached out to me from her perch in Papa's arms. I said sadly, "Memere can't pick you up. I have to go bye-bye now." She leaned back against her father and looked at me sorrowfully. The she lifted her small hand and waved.
It's awfully hard to drive when I'm crying.
9 comments:
awww....i know she had a lovely time with you..sounds like so much fun...and so cool to see them making those connects...here is a tissue...smiles.
Think how happy you both are when you come back! You can't come back if you don't go ---
(sniffle) thanks, Brian
J - can't I just stay?
It's okay, Pauline. Sometimes you have to go away for the joy of that first look on Baby Ben's face when your face appears.
Honest. It's okay. Gotta go get a tissue for MY eyes now, though.
Awww she's a little gem, Pauline. I love it when you see those connections happening.. their many little "aha!" moments.
My granddaughter had her first birthday last weekend. She spent most of it glowering at her visitors, waiting with increasing impatience for them to clear her territory!
Fortunately I'm only an hour-and-a-bit's drive from my daughter. Are you close by?
This took me back to when my own were small and made me want a granddaughter of my own, all at the same time. They're wondrous little things, aren't they? Thank you for sharing her with us!
jeannette - you are so right - that look of recognition is priceless!
Hilary - it's like watching a flower unfold
Dick - I'm an hour and 1/2 away, too far away and close enough, all at once. I'm betting you are enjoying grandpahood as much as I'm loving being a Memere
Barbara - and they grow up too fast!
What's that saying.....? "Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old!' She's beautiful and clever...How could she miss with the Memere she chose?
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