Category Archives: grandchildren

In Honor of Grandsons – 2

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It’s been way too long.

I’ve been writing short stories lately – two for an anthology by the Houston chapter of the American Christian Fiction Writers. That was a contest, and my two stories were finalists and chosen to be published in the anthology. That should come out in February, 2016.

I also wrote two short stories (and a third on the way) for an anthology by Jodie Renner, to raise money to help rescue children from child labor in Asia.

And then I’ve written two short stories for grandchildren. I’m finding that to be one of the most rewarding of writing experiences. One was written before the last post for Brooklyn. And the other I just finished and delivered within the past week, for Ethan, the newest addition to the grandchildren.

Ethan is the first child of our second son, Brad, and his wife, Jaymie. We visited them earlier this week in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ethan is a handsome little man. He has dark hair, like his mom, and lots of it. While we were there he spent most of his time eating and sleeping. And he likes to be held. So our special time was holding him while he slept. Such a sweetie. He’s only about 4 weeks old, so we are excited to see how he will interact with us when he is older.

We have one other grandson, Leighton. And he just turned three. In fact, Leighton’s and Ethan’s birthdays are 12 days apart. I’ve written about Leighton in a previous post. And he’s changing quickly with each month. Now wearing glasses, he looks like a little professor. When he was younger, he was so quiet. Now he talks constantly. Wow, he’s changing.

So why do granddads get so excited about grandsons?

I came up with the following reasons:

  1. We see them as the future of our family.
  2. They give us hope that we can start them off in the right direction.
  3. We want to help them avoid the mistakes we made.
  4. We want to avoid the mistakes of grandparenting that we made with parenting.
  5. We can enjoy being with them instead of worrying like a new parent.
  6. We see in them a legacy for the future.
  7. We hope that they can achieve that which we failed to achieve.
  8. They make what we worked for, saved, and built worthwhile. Now we can share it with them.
  9. When they’re young, we get to enjoy the age of innocence all over again.
  10. They remind us of when our children were young.
  11. They will actually listen to us, and hopefully learn from us.
  12. They’re not judgmental.
  13. They’re excited about spending time with us.
  14. And yes…we get to spoil them and send them home.

They are a hope for the future. Enjoy them while you can.

In Honor of Granddaughters – 3

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Regan Rose. She turned two on July 11. We made it to her birthday party. She and her mom and dad (and future sister) live in northern Ohio. We don’t get to see them enough.

Regan is special, tiny and petite, and always on the go. With blond hair and blue eyes, she is going to be a boy magnet. I hope her dad is ready to watch her like a hawk.

She’s speaking in clear sentences already. All the time she spends with grandmother (babysitting) and other adults is showing up in a very precocious young lady.

She, like Averie, is cautious in opening up to people she is around. And that’s a good thing. Since we don’t visit her enough, it takes awhile for her to warm up to us each new time.

At her party, it was fun to watch her playing with cousins, blowing bubbles, competing for toys, and playing in the wading pool.

We need to find more times to visit Regan and her parents. She is growing up too quickly.

In Honor of Granddaughters -2

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In my previous blog, I wrote about Brooklyn, my youngest granddaughter.

This blog is dedicated to Averie. She’s our second youngest. And she just turned one year.

We missed her birthday party because we were traveling to Florida to see Brooklyn. But when we got back we visited Averie for her own private birthday party.

She’s walking now. She’s so cute when she toddles from couch to couch. And she has a special stare she uses until she’s certain that she knows you. It’s a piercing scrutiny, like “I’m not sure who you are or why you are here.” Then when she breaks into the cutest little grin, you know you passed muster.

She was tiny when she was born, and a little slow to get started growing. But she’s making up for that now. She looks like she could end up bigger than her older brother. And she’s growing quickly.

She’s also learning how to defend herself, with slapping from older brother. Of course, she often initiates the slapping match. I think she knows the buttons to push to get him into trouble. She’ll bear watching.

Averie was very quiet in her first few months. I often wondered whether she was hearing okay. And she ended up needing tubes in her ears. Now that she’s been treated, she hears perfectly. And she can be quite vocal.

It will be fun watching her grow up. Living in the local community, we hope to have lots of opportunities to spend time with her and teach her things grandparents teach their grandchildren.

What are the best memories you have of granddaughters? Or of grandparents when you were young?

In Honor of Granddaughters

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I promised that my next blog would be about visiting a new granddaughter. And it is.

But before that, an introduction. I googled Granddaughter’s Day. No such national holiday exists (that I could find). Now this is amazing in light of the fact that Hallmark and the flower industry have created a holiday for every possible occasion. And where the market for industry used to be the baby boomer generation, it should now be the baby boomers buying gifts for their grandchildren. So why has no one established Granddaughter’s Day, or even Grandchild’s Day? I don’t know.

Grandparent’s Day, this year, is September 13th. It is the first Sunday after Labor Day. So the date changes each year. In celebration of Grandparent’s Day this year, we’ll discuss grandchildren for the next four posts.

This post is dedicated to Brooklyn. She is our youngest grandchild at three months old. She was born seven weeks preme at 4 lb. 11 oz. She spent five weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Consequently she was in our thoughts and prayers daily. My son was fantastic about keeping us updated on her progress. And our daughter-in-law kept us up to date with pictures of Brooklyn as she progressed though her care in the NICU.

Brooklyn amazed everyone with how well she did as a preme. And we have been delighted to see her progress since she’s been home. Everyday there is a new picture, a new outfit. Yesterday’s picture (swim suit cover, sun hat, and shades) has to be the cutest picture of a granddaughter in Florida…ever.

So you can see that I was in love with my granddaughter even before we went to visit her. Two weeks ago we had the opportunity to spend about four days visiting Brooklyn and her mom and dad. My wife and I don’t like traveling, but the experience with Brooklyn was worth every minute of it. Holding her, feeding her, walking her when she was fussy, baby sitting for Mom and Dad – those are all memories we’ll never forget. And the kisses on that cute little Munchkin’s face. What a sweetie pie!

And hopefully, as she gets older, we’ll have more opportunities to visit and get acquainted, opportunities to influence her, teach her so she doesn’t make mistakes we made, and on and on. All the dreams grandparents have for their grandchildren. I guess we want to make up for the mistakes we made when we raised our own children.

So what dreams do you have for your grandchildren?

And who will be first to propose a National Granddaughter’s Dad and National Grandson’s Day?

Still Procrastinating

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Well, I haven’t done much better. At least I haven’t blogged for two weeks. My goal was every week. I have found some time to write. I reviewed a chapter of my critique partner’s work in progress. And I’ve had some time to do a little exploring of children’s literature.

I bring this up, because part of my plexus has to do with my children and grandchildren – wanting to leave a legacy. Wouldn’t it be neat to write a short story or two (or a children’s picture book) with the main character being one of your grandchildren. Or better yet, wouldn’t it be nice to write a book for each of them, in which they are the protagonist (the main character).

Today I sketched out a rough drafts of three stories. One for each grandchild. And next year there will be four. Now I need to read the books and study how these stories should be written.

In any case, it’s wonderful to find some time to write. I hope that I can incorporate leaving a legacy with my grandchildren.

So what legacy do you wish to leave with your grandchildren? What special activities do you do together? What gifts do you make for your grandchildren? How do you want to be remembered?

Grandchildren

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Whew! Who needs an exercise program when you can chase grandchildren?

I returned from a two day writers’ conference last weekend, just before two of our grandchildren arrived. I had time to lay my bag on the counter and answer the door. Our son, Andy, and his wife, Trisha, were going out for the night and would get in late (early the next morning). We were watching Leighton and Averie until the next morning.

Leighton is two and is a real joy. He’s quiet, but he doesn’t stop moving…until he falls asleep for a nap or bedtime. He gets into everything, not to make a mess, but to explore how things work, how to take them apart, how to put them together. His curiosity amazes us. I’ve always called him “Scout,” because he is always looking for something new to explore. This past weekend he was in high gear, overdrive, turbo drive. So I changed his name to “Turbo Scout.” As a proud grandparent, I predict he will be an engineer. He loves lights. In fact “lights” (whispered reverently) was his third word. Maybe it has something to with the fact that grandma and grandpa patiently held him up to the switches so he could explore which switch turned on which light. Maybe he’ll be an electrical engineer.

Averie is just three and a half months. She’s so delicate, so beautiful, so quiet…until she’s hungry. Then she knows how to let you know she wants something to eat. And she’ll keep letting you know until the bottle is ready. There’s something about holding a granddaughter in your arms that makes you feel tender. I remember the feeling when I first held my infant daughter. She’s an adult now and has her own daughter. But, back to Averie. It takes two people to care for children, or at least it felt like it. I don’t know how mom or dad, alone, can do it. I certainly have regained a new respect for a parent who stays home to do child care.

We have one more grandchild, Regan, daughter of our daughter, Tessa. She’s fifteen months and lives outside our community. We don’t get to see her enough. She has the most beautiful smile. She reminds you of sunshine. If life weren’t so busy, we would visit her more often.

It’s so important to keep up on the grandchildren. And I admit that I do a poor job. They are our legacy. And it’s so important to ensure they are getting started in the right way.

What memories or special moments have you spent with grandchildren? Or what special things do you plan to do with grandchildren someday?