Nana

My grandmother said it. My mother said it. I didn't understand until it happened to me. The moment you become a grandmother is nothing shy of miraculous. Eight years ago yesterday at almost midnight, I saw him for the first time. Eight years later I still marvel when I look at him. He is my future.

I could fill pages with the joy he brings me and at the same time, I am speechless.

I have others now—other grands. They, too, fill my heart with wonder.

But he is the first. He opened that portal. He introduced me to that joy.

Eight years and I hope to enjoy many, many more.

I almost cried

I dropped Beau off at summer school this morning. As I was pulling away, I glanced in the rear-view mirror for a last check and I was stunned. Who was this big, gangly boy? He was wearing Beau's clothes but he was far to big to be Beau.

It was him.

My heart jumped and I pictured the smiling little baby boy who was my constant shadow.

Now, he is 7 and a HALF (never forget the half). He's running in the Junior Bix today. He's about to start 2nd grade. He bought his first HO scale locomotive off of ebay yesterday with his own money.

But he's still my constant shadow and he will always be my grandboy.

Now off to First Grade

Remember this last year?

Already another school year is here. Now, Beau is in first grade.

August 11, 2010

He's getting so big—so grown up already. I know that in years to come, I'll look back at these pictures and realize how little he still is.

His Mommy got up and made him a special breakfast to commemorate the occasion.

He is eager to learn. He is eager to explore. This morning at the bus stop, he and the other boys knelt and watched an oriental cricket until the bus arrived. They asked questions. They touched it to see what it felt like. They talked about the cricket's song. They took the time to watch and learn.

Beau is a reminder to me. Don't miss the moment worrying about what comes next.

Learn. Explore. Question. Watch.

He keeps me young.

Beau makes me laugh

Can't you just see the spunk in his eyes? Every day he says something that makes my smile burst forth into a laugh.

He was in summer school for a few weeks recently. For the most part, he loved it but one morning he decided he would rather stay home and play with his trains. He came out of his bedroom holding his forehead and said, "Nana, I believe I have a fever." I felt his head and told him he did not. He thought for a minute and said, "I could get one later! You never know."

Another evening, we bought him some chicken nuggets from Dickey's BBQ (Mmmmm, by the way) and it came with a roll. He loves their chicken nuggets and had specifically requested them. The funny part came when he bit into the roll. His eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "This is the best bread! Now this is what I'm talking about!"

He's growing up so fast. This Wednesday, he will start first grade. He is reading. He has almost mastered the art of tying his shoe. And he makes his Nana laugh a lot.

Different Wave Lengths

Have you ever watched the face of a six-year-old boy when you tell him to make his sound effects in his head?

We are on completely different wave lengths.

Grrr!

Beau Singing

We were in the Teacher Store this weekend buying some stuff for a bulletin board I did at church (photos of that later). Beau saw this flip chart that they used in kindergarten while they were doing their color unit and sang for us!

He's growing up so fast and yet, he's still so little. Every time I play this, it makes me smile.

Kindergarten Ups and Downs

Beau loves kindergarten. He's gone for five weeks and I think he's only woke up one day and wanted to stay home. That's a pretty good record.

His class has a behavior chart. It's a caterpillar that looks like this one:



All the kids start the day out with a clothespin on the green smiley segment. If they break a classroom rule, they move their clip down to the plain green section. We all deserve a second chance right. Subsequent problems move the clip on down. Yellow, orange, and red have different consequences.

Most days, Beau gets green. In fact, most days he gets "smiley-face green." But this week, he had trouble. He and a couple of other boys got in some kind of competitive tussles for a couple of days. We talked to him. My Hero went and talked to the teacher. I prayed with Beau each morning before he went to school asking Jesus to help him choose right.

And Yay!!!! Both yesterday and today, Beau came home with green. He's proud of himself and I'm thankful for the chance to watch him grow.

It just dawned on me

I finished another crocheted blanket for my lil'man grandson last week. I was in such a hurry to ship it off to him that I didn't even take a picture. Well, I can tell you that it was very cute and I was quite pleased with the result.

I'm currently working on three other afghans, a couple to sell on Etsy and one for a Christmas present. Hopefully, I will remember to take pictures of these.

Drawing for Baby Whoozit® on Monday

Hurry and make your comments on this post and I will be drawing a winner at 10 am on Monday, August 24!

His first love

When Beau was 18 months old, I bought him a little wind-up Thomas the Tank Engine. I had no idea what I was starting. It wasn't just a stage or a fad but a passion. Every birthday, Christmas or holiday since, he has asked for trains. Most of our outings with Beau have centered around trains. He was obsessed.

Then it happened. He asked for something else. He discovered Transformers. I smiled because he is growing up, but it was a little bittersweet. I thought that soon, the trains would find their way to the garage to be packed away with memories.

But maybe I thought too soon. Last night the news was on and he was lying in his room, supposedly falling asleep. One of the big stories in our part of the country is the hope of high speed rail connecting us to Chicago. In a flash, a little boy was standing in front of the television asking a million questions...

"What about high speed rail?" "Where will it go?" "When can we ride?" "What kind of engine will it have?"

His passion is still there.

Then this morning, on our way to preschool, we passed a trolley bus. Again, he burst with excitement but I really laughed when he said, "Nana, if you go on toytrains.com and click on trolleys, you could buy me one of those for $3!"

Pretty vivid imagination, huh?

He will grow up. He will play with other toys. He will one day leave the toy aisle for bigger and more expensive things, but I have a sneaking suspicion that even when he's a man, a train will elicit a gleam in those gorgeous brown eyes.

What Can I Say?

New Joy

My Lovebug is ONE today!!!

I can't believe it's already been a whole year since she entered our lives.

Happy Birthday, Lovebug!

Beau graduated preschool

He will climb aboard the school bus in a few short months and march off to kindergarten. He and his classmates will go their separate ways. His preschool had a ceremony marking the end of preschool. I took a little time off from work and went to watch. I'll admit I'm a sappy Nana. I cried.

Singing "Skidamarinky dinky dink"

He was a little nervous at first but he got over it.

Looking to the future!

Our New Grandson

He was born May 21, 2009 at 5:24 pm. He weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 20 inches long. Isn't he beautiful?

Beau

You know it's time

You know it's time for a boy to graduate from a toddler bed to a big-boy bed when he's carrying the toddler bed around and making forts and bridges out of it. For the past week, every time one of us walks into Elisha's room his bed is another architectural wonder. He'll be five in November and I am certain that a big boy bed is on the agenda.

A Special Category

I've decided that the Mommy Olympics should have a special category for Grandmothers. There's all kinds of events that could be held in this category: "Shopping for grandchildren," "Keeping the mouth shut when you disagree with the grandchildren's parents," "Crafting for grandchildren," and "Babysitting grandchildren."

My mom should be posthumously awarded a special medal for that last event. Ten days after my mom went to heaven, my Hero and I said goodbye to Samuel Mark Cannon. The little guy surprised us. We didn't even know he existed when he made his trip to heaven a little more than 4 months after he began to take form in my womb. Through our tears, we laughed at the idea that my mom, "Nanny," couldn't even go to heaven to escape babysitting!

Right now I spend my time training for the "Figuring out what the grandson is pretending to be" event. My form needs work.

Hearts Together

My grandson was in his mommy's bed waiting for her to come home and my Hero and I were straightening up the living room. The boy must have heard us moving his trains, because he called out for me.

My Hero said, "I'll see what he needs" and went to check. He opened the door and asked the boy what he needed.

The boy answered (with much attitude) "I was not talking to you!"

Being the wonderful grandfather that he is, my Hero promptly made it very clear that the attitude was completely unacceptable.

When he was finished correcting the boy, I instructed the little guy to say, "I'm sorry Pops, may I please speak to Nana now?" Which he did in a very courteous voice.

The boy wanted to make sure I was putting his trains in the right place. (Bossy Britches!) And after I assured him that I had it under control, I said, "You really need to go apologize to Pops because you hurt his heart the way you talked to him."

He responded (rather astutely for a 4-year-old), "I don't know if I can, Nana, cuz my heart is mad to his."

I said, "Why don't you go try to see him and say sorry and hug him and see if it helps your heart."

So, he walked into the living room and climbed up in my Hero's lap and gave him a big hug and just sat with his head on Pop's shoulder for a minute. When he turned around to get down, I asked him, "Did it work? Did it help?"

And he smiled his beautiful smile and said, "I'm all better because our hearts were together!!"

How precious is that?

(My Hero looked at me after I took the boy back to Mommy's room and said, "I think that's why we hug one another . . . it puts our hearts together, literally.")

"…That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love…"

Colossians 2:2