Lucky to still have a lot of concentrated time with GS and GD! My 4 grandkids age 1 - 6 live many states away, but I enjoy the quality time we do have together. Someday I will be able to perhaps have more extended time if we have larger/more permanent arrangements in city where DD1’s family lives.
Wonderful that the GKids are in a lot of activities. DDs in addition to various sports, were in a lot of music. Would like GD1 and GS1 to get started with piano lessons but w/o me there with extended time, no way to work it in parents’ schedule at this time. DDs both started piano in first grade and then band/orchestra instruments later. Piano or violin are good ways for younger kids to begin in music. I was fortunate my mother had piano lessons, so as a child we had a piano and sister and I had lessons - later I played flute in school band. DD1 has a piano in her home.
There is a terrific short, recorded animated thing which shows how music has so many centers of the brain lit up - and I believe there are relationships between music and other abilities. Maybe this will stimulate someone posting, or maybe I can find the clip.
I had a blast on Monday taking care of my GS who turns 1 next week. It was the 1st workday that I had him for a full day since he was 3 months old. It is fun to see how much he has grown.
I haven’t been a frequent poster here, but just want to pop in to say. Just had a week family vacation with kids and grandkids, and 3yo gd has decided that I’m now known as “mommy’s mom”. As in, “look at me, mommy’s mom!” Mommy’s dad, mommy’s sister, and mommy’s brother do not get that same honor. I’m looking forward to the next get together where daddy’s mom is there, to see if she gets an equivalent title. Or maybe gd will have forgotten all about it by then.
When first grandkid was born, I had a ‘head’s up’ by a friend to choose what I wanted to be called. I am Nana. Grandpa is my DH. The in-laws have Mc as part of their last name, and they like grandma and grandpa mac.
“Mommy’s mom” is wonderful because GD realizes you are a nurturer, and she understands the love – you are special because how special her mom is to her.
I don’t have grandkids yet so I haven’t thought much about what I would like to be called. A friend of mine had one child (a son). Her ex husband remarried and had a D and S. My friend had a good relationship with her ex and his children called her Broma (brother’s ma) which she has always loved!
My nephew as the first grandchild got to name his grandparents (my parents). My father and brother (his father) have the same first name but are not senior/junior, so had been known as Big D and Little D, so they were trying to get my nephew to say Big D but it became Big Dada, and that stuck. (my uncle’s comment was “Is this some kind of Tennessee Williams play?” Joke was on him because my daughter later names him “Big Ol’ Unca Rob” because he looked so much like Big Dada)
For my mother he started to say Big Mama but that was a big NO from her, so then he decided on “N’s (me) Mom” because he heard me calling her Mom. So she named herself Nana and that became her name not only for the grandchildren but for everyone -our kids, our friends, the spouses, the kids on the lacrosse team, swim team, neighbors… She was Nana to (literally) about 3000 kids.
Today was the first race of the fall season. Both twins ran in the 200 meter race. Neither came in first, though they both finished in the top half of the field.
The surprise run came from GS who is not yet 2 and therefore was not registered for the race (which was for 3-4 year olds). He threw himself out of his dad’s arms near the starting line to join the race, chasing after his older sisters. Mr. No Bib not only finished the whole 200 meters, he didn’t come in last!
SIL just texted me a photo of all 3 proudly displaying their particpant medals.
Definitely a fun thing. The kids are far too young for competitive sports. And D1 and SIL wouldn’t take them to the fun runs if the kids didn’t enjoy them.
Mom and Dad are both marathon/half marathon runners. (They also do mountain running.) They’ve always taken the kids with them when they run, pushing them in jogging strollers around the neighborhood starting when they just a few months old. The kids also go along when Mom & Dad participate in adult fun runs. All 5 of them did the Run the 110 in 2022. Dad pushed the twins in a side-by-side twin stroller; Mom pushed a single stroller with GS. They finished an hour behind the winners.
Twin B like running races, but Twin A’s passion is climbing. She’s the kid that when you take her to new public park, she heads straight for the highest ladder or climbing wall in the entire park, always the one meant for older children. Mom sometimes take her to the rock climbing gym with her to make sure she climbs safely and uses good technique.
During the Olympics, she was glued to the bouldering competitions.
I can’t speak for everyone, but we have seen some such fun runs for kids. One was the Chicken Run at the Kauai marathon. A bunch of kids split into age groups were trying to outrun a guy dressed as a giant chicken. The under 5 crowd could easily beat the chicken, but the 6 and over age groups were having to work hard to outrun him. Everyone got a gift certificate for an ice cream cone and a participant medal. The adults had as much fun watching this race as did the kids running it.
H’s sister,BIL,niece, niece’s H and their D were here for a few days. GD loved playing with her 7 yo cousin. Cousin takes tumbling classes and GD was trying to imitate. Meanwhile GD started toddler gymnastcs yesterday and loved it. Apparently, many of the kids will not jump into the “pit” the first lesson, but guess who did and came up laughing?
We picked up our almost 2 1/2 year old GS from preschool on Friday and took him out to the airport. We wanted to see if Air Force 2 was still on the tarmac. It wasn’t but in reality GS would have had no clue what that meant. We found a good spot near a private plane terminal where we could see the runway. Several private jets were parked and several had pilots walking off. He also liked seeing the carts the maintenance staff used. One of the employees from the private air charter company came out and gave GS a coloring book and crayons. He was super nice as were the pilots who gave GS a wave. We stayed an hour and had to pull him away. We saw a couple of commercial jets land as well as a few private jets and several small planes. It was a great activity.
There’s a small local airport about 1.5 miles from our house. Used to take the guys there to watch the planes and to have lunch in their very basic cafeteria (but it looked out at the runway). For kids who were obsessed with anything and everything transportation at that age, it was a great little field trip.
Just got back from a weekend of watching 3.5 year old GD (and the family Bernedoodle). It was exhausting, my low back is screaming, and I have a big scrape from the tube slide I went down this morning. But GD was awesome & I had a great time!
We watched Little Miss Mess who is almost sixteen months old this weekend while her parents were fixing their newly purchased overpriced dump. It was exhausting, but we had a blast! The weather was not the best so not much time was spent outside. We learned that LMM can eat yogurt from a bowl with her silicone spoon quite skillfully. And she did not make too much food mess to my surprise!
The grands were all with mom in the car when she picked me up at the airport last evening. I got so many hugs when we got to the house!! GS who had been pretty quiet ran to lay on the couch as soon as I got inside and said “Grandma tickle” which was always our thing. He remembered me. GS also insisted I tuck into bed, but after the second “tuck” request, Dad intervened and told me I was being scammed.
I had forgotten how intense the presences of the grands can be. They can be exhausting. And to top it off-- the nanny quit unexpectedly this morning. By text.
The family is going away for Labor Day weekend to cabin in Shenandoah. I am invited but I think I’ve had enough traveling this week. I need the time to unpack and unwind. The stress of moving has given me cold sores and insomnia.
No emergencies. Her last day was supposed to be tomorrow, but she decided that she’d just rather not work her last 2 days. D said she’d become increasingly unreliable the last 3 weeks or so. Coming in late or leaving early, taking time off in the middle of the day, calling in sick at the very last minute before she’s supposed to start work.
And for the record, I think it was terrible thing to do too.
Everyone got a gift certificate for an ice cream cone and a participant medal. The adults had as much fun watching this race as did the kids running it.