Distraction

I wish I had written all my A-Z Challenge posts pre-April but I didn't so I find myself running behind every day grasping for words to match the letter of the day. This doesn't stop me from participating but it does present a challenge to the challenge. Ha!

Today's letter is D and I thought of the obvious choice for me which would be D is for daughters but when you blog and you have four daughters everyone pretty much knows how much you adore your daughters and how you think daughters are the best of the choices of kids you can have so I nearly drove myself nuts trying to think of another D word when BAM! one presented itself to me.

In the movie, CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, Christopher Robin told Pooh he couldn't be distracted so he needed Pooh to go home and I know this is part of the movie along with all the other parts because when Lula Mae is in the house you watch that movie which means I've seen it about a gazillion or so times over the last month. Anyway, Christopher Robin is so caught up in his day-to-day it has become his comfort zone and he's as good at making excuses for being so caught up in the rat-race he had forgotten the most important things as the rest of us. Anyway...

When one of your daughters is an athletic trainer and has to be somewhere at 7:00 AM sharp to teach a CPR class and everyone decides it's not a good thing to awaken a toddler before 6:00 AM said toddler comes to Amma's house for the night. And when that toddler is given the choice between going to school and staying at Amma's house for the day and chooses Amma's house a distraction is created.

D is for distraction of the most delightful sort. 

 It seems only yesterday this little distraction was born. Seriously. Yesterday.

Suddenly, she's talking like a grown-up, running all over the place so self-assured and sassy, problem-solving like a boss and sweeter than the sweetest honey in the whole world. 

She loves to explore and is quite inquisitive. Talking is something she does non-stop but I can't say anything about that because she comes by it honestly.

She loves to eat at my house which tells me I'm doing that part of grandparenting right. And when you are chosen over school that also tells you you're grandparenting well because this kid LOVES her school.

I make her strawberries and Goldfish for snack---

She makes me corn juice---

She has her very own sense of style and let me say I love that her mommy lets her choose for herself.

This was my distraction today. This is why I'm late to the party.

At the end of the movie, Pooh says, "Yesterday, when it was tomorrow, it was too much day for me." That's exactly right Pooh. Stay in the present moment. And enjoy every little distraction that comes your way.

D is for distraction. Of the most delightful kind.

AND---

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There's a Naked Barbie on the Table

My house does not look anything like my grandmother's house with the possible exception of the kitchen because a whole lot of things go on in and around my kitchen just like a whole lot of things went on and around her kitchen.

The kitchen is the heart of my home just like it was at Grandmother's. But things do look different and the food that comes out of mine couldn't touch hers with a hundred foot pole. My dining table isn't covered in a white tablecloth with a centerpiece perfectly placed and reflecting the current season because there are way too many craft materials sitting on mine. The main room in my house is different, too as it houses a cradle filled with toys, bookshelves filled with kids' books, random balls under the furniture, and a naked Barbie sitting on a side table.

Naked Barbie. And yes that is Bug's hair tie because
where else would a hair tie be? Certainly not in her hair.
At least there aren't any crumbs. This time. 

Grandmother's house held no toys but there was so much to do and explore. I loved getting into her closet and going through her pocketbooks. Grandmother had pocketbooks for every outfit and she left dainty handkerchiefs, hard candy, and change in some of them and finding those trinkets was the equivalent of finding a buried pirate treasure for me. If I was there on her big cleaning day (which was Tuesday because Granddaddy owned the dry cleaners/laundry in town and he picked up all the linens on Tuesdays so Grandmother cleaned everything on those days) Grandmother somehow made polishing the furniture a game for me. To this day I cannot dust without following the grain of the wood. Her hardwood floors were my ice skating rink. She had one of those secretaries (the furniture, ha) and the little door in the middle above the desk looked like the door to their church so I played church with that thing over and over and the drawers held treasures of pictures of generations of family and I gazed on those time after time for hours, I have some of those photos in my possession now. And our time in the kitchen was never dull.

My granddaddy was the best. He came home from 'the cleaners' every noon for lunch and, if I was there, I would hide in a big closet and wait for him to find me. He would wander through the house calling my name and I would giggle so hard because he had such a time finding me even though I hid in the same closet every. single. time. Granddaddy never seemed to tire of that game but I'm pretty sure he did after raising my own kids and now having grandchildren. He never let me know it, though. Not one time did he fail to look for me and act surprised and excited when he found me.

My grandparents' energy was never-ending while mine can barely get me up three steps and Grandmother sang all the time while working. All. The. Time. I'm way too busy wishing someone else would wash the dang dishes, vacuum the floors, clean this and that to hum a tune.

But we loved spending time together and this is what I hope I do have in common with my grandparents.

I have heard talk that Bug will go to the door at her house and, when asked where she's going she replies, "Amma's house." And when she is here she will suddenly stop playing, turn and look at me, flash me the biggest smile and throw herself around my neck with a huge bear hug completely melting my heart. I'm taking these as good signs that I'm doing ok in the grandparenting department.

I still believe it's all about time. As grandparents, we surely value time differently or I know I do now compared to when I was raising four daughters. Not that I didn't spend time with my girls, I did. I gave up entering the workforce to stay home and I devoted nearly every minute to them and their wellbeing. However, it's so much easier now to drop everything and focus solely on a grandkiddo. I don't have to rush out to work in the mornings or have them ready to go and out the door. I don't have to be responsible for three meals/day. I can have them help me bake cookies and we can eat as many as we want. As long as they don't get hurt, I couldn't care less if something gets broken. Grandparenting is easy. Fun. Relaxing.

We make messes, play until we're tired and then keep playing, celebrate birthdays, watch movies, hug a lot, laugh until we ache, eat whatever we want...

So, my house isn't like my grandmother's house but I think that's ok. I learned the importance of laughter, time, unconditional love from my grandparents and that's exactly what I give my grandloves. And that's what I think makes all the difference.

Does your house look like your grandmother's house?

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