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| Gavin and me... |
“One hundred years from now it will not matter what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had nor what my clothes were like. But the world may be a little better, because I was important in the life of a child!”
A day with my grandson Gavin is a day well spent. With his mom, his aunt and his big sister off for a girl’s day, Gavin was left in my care. On the night before, while preparing for bed, Gavin was already making plans for the day. Movies, walks, game, playing outside, and eating “all” of the ice cream were high priorities!
All days with Gavin start off early! So there was no sleeping in for this Gramma, this happens – “never”! But today, it was Kylee who came in proclaiming,” Gramma, we’re leaving.” This of course was slightly premature, for they were not out of the door for another good hour. But she was eager to go! Why I am not sure, as she was going to a doctor’s appointment? The idea of mom and aunt Daphne all to herself coupled with a day out of school was obviously very exciting!
As girls were doing the final things that girls do to get out the door, Gavin adamantly asked me to make him pasta for breakfast! Yes, it was a surprise to me as well. Regardless of this out of the ordinary request, I set a pot of boiling water on the stove, and began to wash the
morning dishes.
Finally, the ladyfolk were ready to go! We said our goodbyes, followed by hugs and kisses. Hurray! At last, our day of adventure would begin.
The pasta shells were prepared to perfect al dente texture and topped off with.... soy sauce! That’s how Gavin rolls! Knowing that the boy is an eating machine, I began to prepare the second breakfast of banana pancakes. As predicted, by the time I had mixed the batter and prepared my morning coffee, he was hungry again. Therefore, he was given my pancake and he headed to his room for a dose of Tom & Jerry! I cooked myself another pancake. As I swallowed my last bite of pancake, he was literally hopping around ready to play.
First thing to do was change out of PJ’s and put on clothes, socks and shoes. Clothes were easy, finding a pair of socks; well that is where our adventure begins. Gavin goes through socks, like a train through a tunnel! Somehow they seem to escape very rapidly within the dark. They go where socks go - the mysterious sock abyss. By asking him to go find a pair of socks, I put the boy in motion and sent him on a mission.
After awhile he must have discovered the entrance to the sock abyss, because he came running into my room, exclaiming, “Gramma, I found socks and they even match!” Lickety-split the socks were on followed by shoes... out the door we went!
I set the outdoor parameters; this is a very important thing to do with a boy of adventure! First thing to play was, “you count, I hide” better known as hide and seek, this one of Gavin’s favorite games. He is a stealthy hider; he remains still and extremely quiet even when you are drawing near! After hide and seek, Gavin drew a cobblestone pathway of small, medium and large chalk circles to follow along the patio. I drew the largest, multi-directional hopscotch path ever! It became quite the workout when it was completed! All that hopping wore us both out!
The sun was shining bright, so we retreated to the shade, where we played grocery store. I was the storekeeper, and Gavin was shopper. He filled his basket with many make-believe items: salad, carrots, milk, yogurt, ice cream, meat, juice, gold fish crackers. On his second trip to my store, he needed more salad and carrots, plus a bag of sour Limon chips! He paid for his groceries and headed home to put them in his refrigerator. He carefully laid each make-believe item out on the cement, but in his mind it was a cold, top-of-the-line refrigerator!
In our imaginary land, it was time to cook dinner, we mixed and stirred and poured. Fruit salad was our dinner delight! It consisted of: ice cream, donuts and chips, absolutely- no fruit included! Yummy, we ate and ate.
Out of the blue, Gavin quietly leaned over as if he had a secret to tell and whispered in my ear, “Let’s make a birthday cake!” We softly and silently mixed the pretend ingredients together. Gavin then cautiously carried the cake over to his imaginary oven! Wonder of wonders, immediately the cake was done!
The magic of the imagination is not controlled by time!
After removing the cake from the oven, he meticulously frosted the cake. Then we began to sing: Happy Birthday to Gramma! Which of course was a load of fun, he giggled loudly as I sang. “Happy birthday to me... happy birthday dear me, happy birthday to me”! Yes, of course I blew out the candles, thank goodness this was pretend, I don’t think he can count that high yet! Phew!
After the secret birthday cake was eaten, we rode bikes, made chalk pictures of the sun, moon, bees, rainbows and tea cups! Next we smashed red ants, how dare they walk upon our masterpieces!!!
All too soon, it was time to go back to the real world. Potty breaks for us and the dog were necessary! Gavin cooled off by watching Team Umizumi while eating ice cream right out the carton- that’s how Granma rolls!
Believe it or not, it was now lunchtime! The morning had flown by! Remember time does not exist in the land of make believe! Opa announced he was hungry, and he had a grand idea - homemade French fries! Gavin got a snack (come on, this is no surprise) and retreated back to his room for another round of Tom & Jerry, while Opa cut up potatoes and I fried up some fries! We sat down and ate... and then it happened. The girls were home, our day had come to an end.
This is a day in a life of a child, the best adventure ever!
Try it sometime you won’t be disappointed....
A day with my grandson Gavin is a day well spent. With his mom, his aunt and his big sister off for a girl’s day, Gavin was left in my care. On the night before, while preparing for bed, Gavin was already making plans for the day. Movies, walks, game, playing outside, and eating “all” of the ice cream were high priorities!
All days with Gavin start off early! So there was no sleeping in for this Gramma, this happens – “never”! But today, it was Kylee who came in proclaiming,” Gramma, we’re leaving.” This of course was slightly premature, for they were not out of the door for another good hour. But she was eager to go! Why I am not sure, as she was going to a doctor’s appointment? The idea of mom and aunt Daphne all to herself coupled with a day out of school was obviously very exciting!
As girls were doing the final things that girls do to get out the door, Gavin adamantly asked me to make him pasta for breakfast! Yes, it was a surprise to me as well. Regardless of this out of the ordinary request, I set a pot of boiling water on the stove, and began to wash the
morning dishes.
Finally, the ladyfolk were ready to go! We said our goodbyes, followed by hugs and kisses. Hurray! At last, our day of adventure would begin.
The pasta shells were prepared to perfect al dente texture and topped off with.... soy sauce! That’s how Gavin rolls! Knowing that the boy is an eating machine, I began to prepare the second breakfast of banana pancakes. As predicted, by the time I had mixed the batter and prepared my morning coffee, he was hungry again. Therefore, he was given my pancake and he headed to his room for a dose of Tom & Jerry! I cooked myself another pancake. As I swallowed my last bite of pancake, he was literally hopping around ready to play.
First thing to do was change out of PJ’s and put on clothes, socks and shoes. Clothes were easy, finding a pair of socks; well that is where our adventure begins. Gavin goes through socks, like a train through a tunnel! Somehow they seem to escape very rapidly within the dark. They go where socks go - the mysterious sock abyss. By asking him to go find a pair of socks, I put the boy in motion and sent him on a mission.
After awhile he must have discovered the entrance to the sock abyss, because he came running into my room, exclaiming, “Gramma, I found socks and they even match!” Lickety-split the socks were on followed by shoes... out the door we went!
I set the outdoor parameters; this is a very important thing to do with a boy of adventure! First thing to play was, “you count, I hide” better known as hide and seek, this one of Gavin’s favorite games. He is a stealthy hider; he remains still and extremely quiet even when you are drawing near! After hide and seek, Gavin drew a cobblestone pathway of small, medium and large chalk circles to follow along the patio. I drew the largest, multi-directional hopscotch path ever! It became quite the workout when it was completed! All that hopping wore us both out!
The sun was shining bright, so we retreated to the shade, where we played grocery store. I was the storekeeper, and Gavin was shopper. He filled his basket with many make-believe items: salad, carrots, milk, yogurt, ice cream, meat, juice, gold fish crackers. On his second trip to my store, he needed more salad and carrots, plus a bag of sour Limon chips! He paid for his groceries and headed home to put them in his refrigerator. He carefully laid each make-believe item out on the cement, but in his mind it was a cold, top-of-the-line refrigerator!
In our imaginary land, it was time to cook dinner, we mixed and stirred and poured. Fruit salad was our dinner delight! It consisted of: ice cream, donuts and chips, absolutely- no fruit included! Yummy, we ate and ate.
Out of the blue, Gavin quietly leaned over as if he had a secret to tell and whispered in my ear, “Let’s make a birthday cake!” We softly and silently mixed the pretend ingredients together. Gavin then cautiously carried the cake over to his imaginary oven! Wonder of wonders, immediately the cake was done!
The magic of the imagination is not controlled by time!
After removing the cake from the oven, he meticulously frosted the cake. Then we began to sing: Happy Birthday to Gramma! Which of course was a load of fun, he giggled loudly as I sang. “Happy birthday to me... happy birthday dear me, happy birthday to me”! Yes, of course I blew out the candles, thank goodness this was pretend, I don’t think he can count that high yet! Phew!
After the secret birthday cake was eaten, we rode bikes, made chalk pictures of the sun, moon, bees, rainbows and tea cups! Next we smashed red ants, how dare they walk upon our masterpieces!!!
All too soon, it was time to go back to the real world. Potty breaks for us and the dog were necessary! Gavin cooled off by watching Team Umizumi while eating ice cream right out the carton- that’s how Granma rolls!
Believe it or not, it was now lunchtime! The morning had flown by! Remember time does not exist in the land of make believe! Opa announced he was hungry, and he had a grand idea - homemade French fries! Gavin got a snack (come on, this is no surprise) and retreated back to his room for another round of Tom & Jerry, while Opa cut up potatoes and I fried up some fries! We sat down and ate... and then it happened. The girls were home, our day had come to an end.
This is a day in a life of a child, the best adventure ever!
Try it sometime you won’t be disappointed....
