New Every Morning

Here's Brody at work, playing in playroom number one. Next week, he'll be ten months old. He needs lots of room to crawl and ample space to keep his little limbs in motion. Right now as I type, he is absorbed in the small plastic giraffe (you can see it next to the big giraffe.) Everytime he shakes it, (so far about a hundred times) it says Whata we gonna do. ou ou ou. I think I really need a doctor. It's a trinket from Kenzie's happy meal, a character from the movie Madagascar 2. Brody is enthralled with it. He also loves the Peek A Boo blocks (below). When you drop them in the big giraffe a little tune plays. He is getting skilled at dropping them in.

I love the way Kenz cleans up the playrooms, arranging Brody's toys and books in creative patterns. She charges 15 cents for each playroom. These days we have two, playroom number one and playroom number two (my office and the spare bedroom.)

Kenz can make any space ready for a new day of exploration and Brody can undo it in less than a few minutes. (Guaranteed or your money back!)

These days I am having fun just listening and watching him play!!!

Storytime

Congratulations to my beautiful sister Neci, who is graduating this summer with a Master's Degree in Children's Literature. Did I get that right sister?

It was great getting our summer started with a visit from Neci, although it was way too short. She was our early June bloom. Neci has always kept Kenz 'in books' and this trip she came with a bag full.

As it turned out, while she was here, our local library was getting summer underway with the BE CREATIVE @ YOUR LIBRARY program. We just happened to come across the little desk near the entryway when Neci, me, Kenz and Brody were bustling into Baby Storytime. Afterwards, Kenz signed up and received her bright yellow card to keep track of her time. For every fifteen minutes read, there's a square or object to color. In her age group (6-11) the children read for 6, 12, 18 and more, more, more hours.... to receive prizes. The biggest prize is a free pass to a waterpark.

On our way to have lunch, Neci explained that it's important that children want to do this, or reading can become a chore or a bore. Then she reminded me to continue reading to Kenz. "Beginner readers need to hear adults read," she said. "They need to hear the intonation in the voice to help them become smooth readers."

This was several weeks ago and Kenz is still excited about the reading program. And Brody, oh my goodness, Brody loves, loves, loves Baby Storytime. We are all having a book of a summer. Kenz has read almost eighteen hours! She reads to herself, her parents and to Daba. She and I have a special reading time on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays after Brody's dad picks him up about one o'clock. We both get a stack of books that we want to read to each other. Then we get in our comfy clothes, get comfy on the big bed and take turns reading. The best part is that after a few books, we close our eyes and take a nap. A siesta! Sometimes it's only a few minutes, but it's wonderful. Brody, at nine months, is so active and so buzy, by the time afternoon arrives, I am ready. I am so tired by this time because Brody does not--- nap. Oh, he'll take a quick cat nap, but he is a morning guy and he is buzy all morning, playing and exploring. He never stops. I must say though, he plays very well by himself. He is-- as we say-- a good baby.

So Neci, thanks for coming, thanks for everything. Loved having you. So glad you could glimpse a couple pages of Nana's sweet summer story, Play Wit Me Nana!

Nine Months!

Choreful

Kenz has been earning some saving money.

Nana do you have anything you want me to do?

Do you want to clean up the playroom?

Definitely Nana. How much?

I will give you a quarter, twenty five cents.

I'll do that Nana and then you think of another chore for me, ok?

Kenz has been at it since summer started and now she has a good start to open a saving account at the bank. She loves to watch her money grow. She folds towels (some like the American Flag), gives neck rubs, cleans the playroom and organizes drawers. I'm starting to depend on her services. What a sweetheart! The picture above is one of the ways she put her magic touch on a recent playroom clean-up.

Fantastic Finger Plays

Summer Agenda

• summer's here
• and the time is right
• for playing in the yard

Kenz doesn't care how cold the pool is, she jumps right in. Brody is right at home in her old pink push car. Ah life, without a diaper. In case of accident, just get the hose!

I've had what seems like hundreds of summers in our yard, with my own kids and even though I'm old, and working, twenty-four hours a week as a nurse, I'm determined to package up a new summer of fun for my grandchildren (and me). The good thing about fun is that it's cheap, and guaranteed to happen in the presence of grandchildren. Part of the reason for this, of course, is that they go home and you can rest.

Kenz had a friend over yesterday and they splashed away while Brody delighted in their screeches and 'look at me's'. He is wearing one of Kenzie's old hats. It has a pink lining, but you can't see it. I'm recycling the early days of Nana babysitting Kenz. I kept most of her essentials, like cute hats and cars, toys, blankets, the crib and books, books books!

I never thought I'd do it again, but here I am under that magic spell of grandparenting. Grandpa is right there with me.

Wella, Happy Summer!

The Playful Beluga

My Playful Beluga's

The Beluga is a highly sociable creature. Groups of males may number in the hundreds, but mothers with calves generally mix in slightly smaller groups. When pods do aggregate in estuaries, they may number in the thousands. This can represent a significant proportion of the entire Beluga population and is the time when they are most vulnerable to hunting.

Beluga pods tend to be unstable, meaning that Belugas tend to move from pod to pod. Pod membership is rarely permanent. Radio-tracking has shown Belugas can start out in a pod and within a few days be hundreds of miles away from that pod.

The closest social relationship between Belugas is the mother-calf relationship. Nursing times of two years have been observed and lactational anestrus may not occur. Calves often return to the same estuary as their mother in the summer, meeting with their mother sometimes even after becoming fully mature.

Beluga are also known for being rather playful, as well as spitting at humans or other whales. It is not unusual for an aquarium handler to be sprayed down by one of his charges whilst tending a Beluga tank. Some researchers believe that this skill may be utilized to blow away sand from crustaceans at the sea bottom. Unlike most whales, it is capable of swimming backwards.
(from Wikipedia.org)

Ilustrated by Kenz

Kenz's Wall Of Art

Brody loves looking at Kenz's creations, especially when he is busy sucking away on his bottle. And Kenz loves having a turn holding him on her lap and feeding him.

The wall display started with the round work of artwork, the yellow star surrounded by turquoise. We couldn't stop there, we stuck them all up. What is more interesting than children's art? I can't think of anything better to decorate a room when you have a six-year-old granddaughter. How bout it?

Play by Play

Reading Quietly

Do you remember when you had your second child and just watching the older one interact with the younger new member of the family was true entertainment? Do you recall that even when the older one was distracted and not paying particular attention to the baby, that just having the two of them together in the same room was a good feeling?

Well lo and behold! It's no different as a grandmother. Kenz and Brody are cousins, and they are developing a wonderful bond. I baby-sat both of them last night and it was FUN. A little exhausting afterwards, but nonetheless fun!

Brody always has a kiss for Kenz and leans over with his mouth open to smack her cheek. She adores him and is quickly learning about a baby's changing moods, and also the need for diaper changes.

I was in heaven when they both decided to explore a book. Brody tasted his Cookie Monster book, but eventually laid it on the floor and moved it around, studying it for more than a few minutes. Kenz was absorbed in Nemo's watery world. (I was reading their faces with my camera.)

Can you imagine us years from today reading quietly in the playroom, for hours? How great it will be to be learning together.

I'm borrowing part of that line, and the tune, from Simon and Garfunkel's song Old Friends...Can you imagine us years from today sharing a park bench quietly? How utterly strange to seventy.

Anyhow, I love when Kenz is here,when I'm watching Brody. She doesn't know that her just being present is enriching baby Brody's life. I tell her, but I don't think she gets it. She's also good company for me.

I kept a bunch of her toys packed away and we dug some of them out last night.

I remember this, Nana, Kenz would gasp. I loved loved loved this toy when I was little, Nana.

I loved watching her see her baby toys in a new way. She has grown to be six so quickly, just having a bit of a flashback to her earlier days was a treat.

From a grandma's perspective having two grandchildren only makes this stage of the game and the unfolding story all the more interesting.