What a great summer! We looked up from our busy-ness the other day and could hardly believe the end of the first week in July had arrived [This was written July 9, 2010]. A major reason the time has flown by is that we’ve had our six year-old ggrandson for the past six weeks (minus two weekends).
We had to return him to his parents this afternoon. )-: Sad for us, but happy for them.
Gosh, it’s quiet now! We’re used to having this energetic little person pop into our bedroom each morning to announce that he’s up and ready to use our bathroom and then ready for Pappy to start his “Batman” video!
Three weeks ago, we took him down to our local library for some Batman comics. We had called previously and were told they carried them in bound volumes on the shelves. Also, there were Batman videos. Libraries aren’t like they used to be! I remember when librarians looked with disdain upon Nancy Drew books, much less comic books. As a kid, I devoured comics whenever I could get my hands on them. My mother would take us to visit our cousins, and I would find their stack of comics and sit and read until I’d finished the complete pile.
Pappy read E. some comics each night before bedtime, and E. would watch two or three Batman videos in the morning before breakfast. Between E. and Pappy, they carefully measured out all the videos so that he’d see them all before he had to go home.
Some time ago, I’d gotten him started reading our large volume of combined “Dick and Jane” stories. Today, he actually went on his own to his bedroom to get the book before we took him home . He wanted to read some more out loud. By the time, we met his Mom, he had read ¾ of the book, so I feel confident about his reading ability when he enters 1st grade in August. He had learned a lot as well from his kindergarten school work.
A day or so after he first arrived, we opened our front door one morning to see a turtle right outside the door, looking as though he wanted in. I took Mr. T. out to the back yard where we now see him or her occasionally. (We have a certified official backyard habitat.) From that point on, E. wanted me to “google up” as many turtles and sea creatures as I could find on the internet. Oh, and that was the second turtle to whom we’ve provided accommodations. A couple of years ago we rescued one off the street, let him live in our back yard over the winter and then returned him to the woods in the spring. Hmmm…turtles and elephants are my token animals, so who knows what’s going on and who’s going to turn up next? (-:
Two days ago, we took E. to the beach at a local lake. While we were in the water, a very large turtle poked her head above water and watched us for while. E. would have paddled straight for shore, but I reassured him the turtle was more afraid of us, so we splashed and paddled until a dark and ominous cloud accompanied by a much cooler breeze appeared, and I decided we’d better call it a day for swimming.
The first two weeks in June we took E. down to the local park and pool for swimming lessons. He really loved that, especially since after the lesson, he could go over to play at the water park with the myriad shapes and sizes of water jets and then go with Pappy to get chocolate covered doughnuts with sprinkles. Hey, Pappy liked that, too!
In addition to going swimming several times (once at Jim’s pool over the 4th of July), we all, for the first time ever, rode the light rail coming back from downtown Austin. It’s an hour’s trip each way. We took the bus downtown since the light rail left our local station so early in the morning. (The first time, my husband drove us downtown, and he drove back while we rode the train.) E. loved riding the bus and the train, and we saw deer and wild turkeys along the route coming back both times we rode.
While downtown, “Extreme Pita” located right off 6th and Congress became our favorite place to lunch. E. could get pita with cheese which looked and tasted just like a cheese pizza, his favorite kind.
This last visit downtown, rain poured down on us as we left the restaurant. Luckily, we had taken two umbrellas which still weren’t enough. E. had his own, and Pappy and I had to share, resulting in our getting soaked by the time we walked several blocks to the train station. But, it was fun!
On the 4th, Jim sent some sparklers home with E., and we lit two per night for several nights. He talked about the sparklers with much anticipation during the day and mentioned how “exciting” they were.
In between all of this activity, he and I played numerous games of “Authors,” checkers, and Chinese checkers, as well as baseball outside and basketball inside. E. has learned the names of Longfellow, Thackeray, Hawthorne, Twain, Cooper, Tennyson, Alcott, Poe, Dickens, Shakespeare and others since we began playing “Authors.”
I found several great online children’ sites where he played games: Nick at Night Kids and PBS kids. Many of them teach as well as entertain.
On television, he watched PBS programs during the day, and I marveled at those imaginative people who have designed such creative ways to teach children. I never thought anyone could improve on the teaching methods of the early Sesame Street programs.
He rode his scooter, and whizzing down the hill now, he has really improved his balance since the last time he was here. The scooter will carry us, as well, so we just pull up the handle and ride it, especially if he is too tired to lug it up the hill on the way back.
He brought his Wii with him and we set it up in our den, so he bounced around a lot, “playing” football, throwing passes, managing interceptions and having a great time. Then, if he were particularly excited about a certain play, he’d come and have us watch while he hit the “replay” button.
Several times, we’d go out into the yard with his bat, and I’d pitch him balls. He would have stayed out for hours in the heat, so I had to limit how many balls I would pitch, and he was agreeable to that. After he hit them, he’d run and get the balls, which suited me fine!
He helped me pick patio and grape tomatoes from the vines and also helped scrub potatoes for potato salad to take to Jim’s.
E. is at the age where he makes “jokes” that really aren’t, but I guess that he has to go through this stage to get to where he makes connections that are actually funny. The latest thing now is telling one or the other of us that a spider is in the bathroom or his Mom is driving up, or whatever and then saying when we respond, “Gotcha!” So, we laughingly gave him back in kind.
This past six weeks, E. and Pappy became closer, and many times he wanted to do things with Pappy rather than me, which I think was good. He also wanted to do everything Pappy did, such as lying upside down on the inversion table each morning to improve the back (it also helps with the circulation). So, Ray slid the feet up on the table to fit a six year old and they both were upside down for several minutes each morning.
Over the past weeks, my husband has mentioned often how much joy E. gives us and also the possibility that E. may be the only grandson he will ever have, so he’s thankful we have him in our lives.
So now, as we return his little table and chair (where he sometimes sits to eat while watching his favorite tv show) up to his bedroom, as I return the rubber ducks to the bathroom closet (he’s abandoned these in favor of playing with a flexible power ranger in his bath), as I remove said power ranger hanging by the arm from the shower hose and stash it away with the ducks, as I contemplate with sadness throwing out the ducks and then realize how much I want to hang on to his baby and toddler-hood, as I return the myriad balls—nerf and others—to his closet, as I break the balloons (they’ll deflate by the time we next see him, anyway) he batted and kicked back and forth in the upstairs den, using them as soccer balls, as I return three of his “Hot Wheels”(a cherry red pickup, a blue stripped-down hotrod, and an orange racing car complete with stripe) to his room, as I empty out the remaining canned chicken and noodles which I “doctored” for his lunch yesterday with my homemade vegetable soup-- as I do all these things, I also realize how much he missed his parents and how happy he was to see them, and I’m very thankful that he has a great family life.
But, there was an inordinate amount of laughing and joking during the past six weeks, and we feel blessed to have had E. that long. We cemented even stronger, a loving and close relationship that we’ve enjoyed with him since the day he was born. Thanks, K. and B.
Love,
P.
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