A couple of weeks ago, we had the great privilege of having Bailey Grace Maxwell, our grand-daughter, as our guest for the night. I picked her up on October 30th about 7:00 in the evening after she had been to a Halloween Party at the Pavilion. Bailey was dressed as a Bee and was so cute. When she came into the house I was standing there and she cried out "Gandma!"and ran to me with her arm open. After getting and giving hugs I got a picture of her in costume. After Nicole, her mother, got her things ready and Bailey gave kisses to Nick, my son and her father, and Nicole, she looked up at me and said, "Going to gandma's house now!" And away we went.
I secured her in her car seat and away we went.
We got home and she greeted "Ganpa and Uc Aex" as she says. She immediately ran to get out her toys at our house. She has a toy that blows balls out, which when they come flying out she squeals and laughs. Such a joyous sound to my ears. It is funny that when my own children would do that over and over, I would shhhhh them, but when your grandchild does it, it is a totally different sound. Next she played with another toy that makes noise when she pushes the button. She would laugh and dance as the music played and we sat and participated with her. Again, noise toys, when the boys were young, were often lost or the batteries were long gone and could not be replaced. The difference between parenthood and grand parenthood is as different night and day. So many things that we as parents stop and have
no patience for, we as grandparents allow and even enjoy with our grandchildren.
After some time of playing and an OK from her father for her to stay up a little late, we got ready for bed. We watched Scooby Doo while we brushed teeth and hair, put on PJ's and crawled in bed. We had Bailey's duck, frog, blanket, Blues Clues' pillow and a bear with rabbit ears(the bear was a gift to me from Mark), but Bailey wanted it in bed too. So the 7 of us climbed under the covers and hugged and kissed goodnight. Bailey closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, looked over at me and smiled and said something like this,
gandma sleep too? I said oh yes it is time for gandma to go to sleep too. We proceeded to talk for awhile before she finally was ready to actually go to sleep. I had forgotten what it was like to sleep with a 2 year old. They do not sleep in the same position all night. The rest of the night for me was made of short naps. Bailey talks in her sleep, turns cross ways of the bed with her feet in my side then head at my feet, then her head in my ribs. Next her head was on my stomach and finally on my shoulder. She never woke up once during all this turning and talking.
The next morning about 8:00 Bailey awoke and said "Gandma... up?" I awoke and ask her if she was ready to get up. She replied, "OK! I wet my diaper." I told her that is OK, lets get you dry and see if you can blue circle. To Bailey, blue circle is going to the bathroom. She and I got up, did the bathroom thing, dressed, brushed air and teeth, and came down to fix breakfast.
After breakfast, I needed to do the dishes and she played with Ganpa and Uc Aex for a bit, then she saw the bubbles in the sink. And that was that, she wanted to play in the bubbles, so we
cleaned the sink up and made a sink full of bubbles for her to play with. She and I built a tall bubble tower with some help from Uncle Alex. After the timer went off, which meant, bubble time over, we clean up and went on to another activity. It was raining, so we could not feed the ducks; however, trying to be a good grandma, I had other activities ready. Bailey, Uncle Alex, Grandpa and 
Grandma got out the play dough. We had all kinds of things to cut the play dough with and she had such fun with it. Lunch was from Wendy's - hamburger, fried, oranges, milk and a small spoon of ice cream. Bailey loves hamburgers and fries. After lunch, we colored for a bit, then got her dolls out and "fed" them their bottles. When the babies were full, I took Bailey into the living room and she played the panio. She really enjoys music! Then back into the den to play fetch with Tessa. Bailey gets so excited throwing the ball. She seems to use both hands. Alot like her father. Nick would write right handed, but plays golf and baseball as t
hough he is lefthanded. Then all too soon it was 1:00, mom and dad came to pick her up.
We sent her home with a special Halloween bag and a picture that Grandpa printed for her of Bailey and her bubble tower. It was not long after she left that I missed her so much.
Passing thoughts:
As a parent, we have the responsibility to raise our children and teach them values and faith in God and their savior, Christ, so that they are ready to live in society and be successful. We love our children unconditionally, but sometimes, we are so involved in raising them and making a living to support them, that a wall can easily be built between children and their parents. We realize that all of sudden, they are grown and our job is over. but then......
Grand parenthood .....As a grandparent, we want to pass on the same values, but it is not our responsibility to make sure that they are ready to live on their own when they are grown. We are giving the gift of less responsibility and the even greater gift of playing, having fun and being hopefully a confident, friend and someone they can feel unconditional love from. Someone they look forward to see and spend time with. Grandparents seem to be able to pass on the same values to grandchildren with less effort than when we were parents. If I could pass on some wisdom to parents, I think it would be sometimes less force on an issue actually pushes it through into the mind easier. I hope that makes sense. I guess it is like trying to push a feather into a hole with a hammer. The feather would crush, but a gentle touch, would allow the feather to go into the hole without harm.
I secured her in her car seat and away we went.
We got home and she greeted "Ganpa and Uc Aex" as she says. She immediately ran to get out her toys at our house. She has a toy that blows balls out, which when they come flying out she squeals and laughs. Such a joyous sound to my ears. It is funny that when my own children would do that over and over, I would shhhhh them, but when your grandchild does it, it is a totally different sound. Next she played with another toy that makes noise when she pushes the button. She would laugh and dance as the music played and we sat and participated with her. Again, noise toys, when the boys were young, were often lost or the batteries were long gone and could not be replaced. The difference between parenthood and grand parenthood is as different night and day. So many things that we as parents stop and have
no patience for, we as grandparents allow and even enjoy with our grandchildren.After some time of playing and an OK from her father for her to stay up a little late, we got ready for bed. We watched Scooby Doo while we brushed teeth and hair, put on PJ's and crawled in bed. We had Bailey's duck, frog, blanket, Blues Clues' pillow and a bear with rabbit ears(the bear was a gift to me from Mark), but Bailey wanted it in bed too. So the 7 of us climbed under the covers and hugged and kissed goodnight. Bailey closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, looked over at me and smiled and said something like this,
gandma sleep too? I said oh yes it is time for gandma to go to sleep too. We proceeded to talk for awhile before she finally was ready to actually go to sleep. I had forgotten what it was like to sleep with a 2 year old. They do not sleep in the same position all night. The rest of the night for me was made of short naps. Bailey talks in her sleep, turns cross ways of the bed with her feet in my side then head at my feet, then her head in my ribs. Next her head was on my stomach and finally on my shoulder. She never woke up once during all this turning and talking.
The next morning about 8:00 Bailey awoke and said "Gandma... up?" I awoke and ask her if she was ready to get up. She replied, "OK! I wet my diaper." I told her that is OK, lets get you dry and see if you can blue circle. To Bailey, blue circle is going to the bathroom. She and I got up, did the bathroom thing, dressed, brushed air and teeth, and came down to fix breakfast.
After breakfast, I needed to do the dishes and she played with Ganpa and Uc Aex for a bit, then she saw the bubbles in the sink. And that was that, she wanted to play in the bubbles, so we
cleaned the sink up and made a sink full of bubbles for her to play with. She and I built a tall bubble tower with some help from Uncle Alex. After the timer went off, which meant, bubble time over, we clean up and went on to another activity. It was raining, so we could not feed the ducks; however, trying to be a good grandma, I had other activities ready. Bailey, Uncle Alex, Grandpa and 
Grandma got out the play dough. We had all kinds of things to cut the play dough with and she had such fun with it. Lunch was from Wendy's - hamburger, fried, oranges, milk and a small spoon of ice cream. Bailey loves hamburgers and fries. After lunch, we colored for a bit, then got her dolls out and "fed" them their bottles. When the babies were full, I took Bailey into the living room and she played the panio. She really enjoys music! Then back into the den to play fetch with Tessa. Bailey gets so excited throwing the ball. She seems to use both hands. Alot like her father. Nick would write right handed, but plays golf and baseball as t
hough he is lefthanded. Then all too soon it was 1:00, mom and dad came to pick her up.We sent her home with a special Halloween bag and a picture that Grandpa printed for her of Bailey and her bubble tower. It was not long after she left that I missed her so much.
Passing thoughts:
As a parent, we have the responsibility to raise our children and teach them values and faith in God and their savior, Christ, so that they are ready to live in society and be successful. We love our children unconditionally, but sometimes, we are so involved in raising them and making a living to support them, that a wall can easily be built between children and their parents. We realize that all of sudden, they are grown and our job is over. but then......
Grand parenthood .....As a grandparent, we want to pass on the same values, but it is not our responsibility to make sure that they are ready to live on their own when they are grown. We are giving the gift of less responsibility and the even greater gift of playing, having fun and being hopefully a confident, friend and someone they can feel unconditional love from. Someone they look forward to see and spend time with. Grandparents seem to be able to pass on the same values to grandchildren with less effort than when we were parents. If I could pass on some wisdom to parents, I think it would be sometimes less force on an issue actually pushes it through into the mind easier. I hope that makes sense. I guess it is like trying to push a feather into a hole with a hammer. The feather would crush, but a gentle touch, would allow the feather to go into the hole without harm.
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