Yesterday, my oldest daughter, Alena, asked if I would like to accompany her and my almost 2 year old granddaughter, Mavis, to Walmart for some things that she needed.
I agreed, and started off the trip smiling, even from the parking lot of the store, when Mavis made it clear that I was still the only one she wanted pushing any cart she was sitting in.
This has been her way lately:
Her palm goes up to all others, and she will declare “Grammy do it.”
I’m beginning to suspect this is because, while her mother says things like “No,” and “You don’t need that,” I, instead, will hand her any random thing she wants to look at, “for research purposes.”
I don’t go as far as to buy her everything she wants, but, you know, WINDOW SHOPPING.
This inevitably leads to her mother looking on, shaking her head, as I load Mavis up with items packed around her as if she is a Klampett headed for a new life of decadence.
“You want some craft foam? A litter box? A three-wick candle? A car air-freshener? A fishing pole? A camping chair? Some elastic hair bands?”
Alena asks why she’s suddenly got a vacuum sealer,
But I’m too busy putting a rhinestone tiara on her to notice.
My motto is that the world feels like it shuts you down enough.
I hear this is the motto of many-a-grandmother.
(That, and sometimes a kid just needs to look at a tape measure)
Alena didn’t seem to complain when it turned into the easiest trip to Walmart we had ever taken.
Not once did Mavis demand to get down, or fuss from all the sitting.
Instead, she happily examined car air freshener packaging.
What can I say?
Kids like to discover.
This morning I went over to their house (which is next door) to borrow some half-and-half,
and Alena was looking tired as Mavis scaled things, while clutching her newest obsession:
A makeup beauty blender.
When I asked why all the couch pillows were in her bedroom, Alena sighed, and told me that Mavis keeps taking them, declaring she is “building a nest for a gorilla.”
I smiled, remembering being the tired mom of toddlers,
but, as a grandma, this kind of thing absolutely delights me.
I remember how the days feel so long and busy, but, from this side of life, you realize this phase is the sweet-spot: The wild heads, the sloppy kisses, the footie pajamas,
the book you’ve read too many times that you’re considering actually hiding, because –
FOR THE LOVE, WHY DOES IT NEED 60 PAGES?!
The moment she saw me, Mavis ran over, saying, “Gwammy, hold your hand! Bofe! Grammy hold BOFE hands,” then she led me to see all the different things she was busy doing.
I like to think this is why we were given to each other:
To show one another things, to give each other fun and laughter, even when the entire world feels like it’s constantly working to make us much more serious.
Life these days feels hard much too often:
Wars, hatred, murder, and personal battles.
I heard one person say that this year all haunted houses will need to do is turn on the news if they want to scare people.
So, you know, what is the harm in handing the kid a mag light for a minute?
Who knows what she will learn from spending three minutes with some canning equipment?
Who knows how she’ll use information about it in the future?
Maybe when we’re all living some Mad Max life it’ll be her and some solar charger she learned about in Walmart once that’ll save us.
I happen to know she got this side from her father, who has an experimental garden, some rocks tumbling, and homemade mead brewing on the counter as I type this.
Sometimes a person just needs to check out a package of quilting bunting, OK?
Don’t worry about us over here in our plastic clip on earrings and tiaras.
We will just call it a precursor to a passion for science,
and if you pay attention to any of that aforementioned news, you would know –
It looks like we’re really going to need it.
Mom Outnumbered
Hi! My name is Kerri Green; Wife to Justin, and mother to four highly entertaining daughters -Alena, Chloe, Tessa, and Paige. I am an artist, a writer, a daycare provider, a lover of people, a believer that there is humor and beauty in all things, and the author of Mom Outnumbered; a blog about real family life, and my observations of it. My goal is to make people laugh, to be there for them when they cry, and most importantly, to let them know that they are not at all alone in this up and down world. I live with my family in Sebastopol California, and I am opening the window into our life. So welcome! Come in. Sit down. Just please don’t mind the mysterious wet spots.
