Leon

There’s this little boy that lives down the street from my daughter that goes over to play with my grandsons. That’s not unusual. All the kids in the neighborhood go play there. It’s a kid’s perfect backyard. There are swings, a fort, one of those pendulum swings, a big trampoline, a swimming pool, a hot tub, and room to run around. So that’s where the neighborhood kids hand out

But Leon is a different story. He’s a little guy. I think he’s 7 but he’s smaller than my 5 year old granddaughter. He doesn’t go ring the doorbell. He doesn’t go knock on the door. He goes over and just walks in the door and wanders around the house until he finds one of the kids. He wanders into the backyard too if he doesn’t see anyone before he gets to the back door.

Imagine my almost-surprise to be sitting in the couch watching TV while house sitting and looking up to see Leon wandering inside the house!

Then there’s Leon when he gets hungry or thirsty. He doesn’t say anything. He just goes in the kitchen and opens the fridge to find what he wants. He also goes through the pantry. He doesn’t ask. He just does it.

I don’t know if his mom is aware of what a bad little guest he is. My daughter doesn’t know how to tell the mom and even though she has told Leon that he needs to knock on the door and ask for what he wants before going through the fridge and pantry, he still does it.

And I’m almost ashamed to say that I don’t like that little boy. Even before I knew he did all this I just didn’t like him. There’s something that just makes him less likable that your average kid.

I just asked him. He’s 7. Hopefully he will outgrow these un- neighborly habits before he turns 8!

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Maya Mouse

Maya will be four years old on February 9. This weekend, we are celebrating her birthday. Normally, she would have a party but thanks to Covid-19 we can’t do that this year. Instead, we are doing a stay-cation in a local hotel. I was in charge of picking up the kids at daycare and bringing them to the hotel while her mommy drove to the hotel, checked in, and decorated the room. Decorations? Why Mickey and Minnie, of course. Maya loves them. In fact, she has to wear something with Minnie on it every single day. I sometimes tease that she is going to be very disappointed when she figures out that she isn’t really Minnie Mouse!

She was so excited when the door to the room opened up and she was greeted with Mickey and Minnie balloons as big as she is! She said, “Is this my Minnie Mouse bird day?” Yeah, bird day. Okay, she’s only technically 3! She is flying high tonight and doesn’t want to go to sleep. Tomorrow, there will be cake and presents and other surprises. She doesn’t know that yet.

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Heavy Traffic –#WeeklySmile

I had not been out of the house since coming home from the hospital a full week ago. My daughter said she would take my mom and I to dinner last night but she had so much running around that she fell asleep when she got home so it was late before we went to dinner. Luckily, we had some leftovers to keep us going!

When she came to get us, it was her and Spencer, the four year old. We headed toward the restaurant, not far from here, at about 8. By then there was no traffic and my daughter remarked how light the traffic was. When we left the restaurant (after a truly delicious dinner) we decided to go to the grocery store to get a few things Mom and I needed for meals here at home. After, my daughter said she had promised Spencer a frosty drink from Wendy’s which is across the street from the grocery store.

We got to Wendy’s and got in the drive-thru line. There were three cars ahead of us when we ordered. Not three minutes later, there were two cars ahead of us as we waited when Spencer sighed loudly. I asked him what was wrong and he said, “Me no like it when we’re in heavy traffic like this!”

We all cracked up! That was my smile this week. I’ve a few of them but this was the most recent one.

I’m heading to my daughter’s house as soon as she comes to get us in a couple of hours because she has AC and I don’t. We’re currently at 83 degrees (28 C) at ten in the morning and headed for 106 degrees (41 C). So we’re off to try to stay cool. I’m sure the afternoon with the grandchildren will provide many more smiles.

What made you smile this week? Head on over to Trent’s blog for more smiles!

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Backwards – #WeeklySmile

Spencer is very independent. He’s a “fresh” four year old (his birthday was in April). He still has delayed speech but is much better. We can understand what he says, although we sometimes can’t figure out what he means by it. He gets what he wants all on his own if you don’t get it for him. He will carry chairs or ladders to climb onto the counters or tables to reach things. He goes to the fridge and helps himself to what he wants from it or from the freezer.

One thing that is great is that he will dress himself and put his shoes on all by himself. His seven year old brother doesn’t always do that so we’re pleased that Spencer does it. However, he puts everything on backwards! All of his shirts go on backwards and he also puts his shoes on the wrong foot. He won’t let us fix his shirt or his shoes. He’s consistent and insistent with the shirts but we can sometimes get him to let us fix his shoes or he’ll do it himself.

Yesterday evening, I took him to the park and was not surprised to see all of the parents smiling when they saw his backwards shirt! I’m not sure if they thought his crazy grandma had done it or if they realized he had done it himself. I guess I don’t really care what they thought. I almost wanted to go up to them and say he had dressed himself but then I figured I really didn’t care what they thought!

My backwards boy scrubbing the fridge for me.

The #WeeklySmile is hosted by Trent at Trent’s World the Blog. Go check it out and maybe share a smile with us?!

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Screws

Instead of complaining or going into the continuing sag of my healthcare situation, let’s do something different.

Spencer, who is now a fresh four year old, is obsessed dismantling anything and everything in sight, especially when there is a screwdriver involved. No matter where the screwdrivers are hidden from him, he climbs up (often up a chair, a ladder, and the counter) to reach the screwdriver. So the other day, I was watching them, all three of them. The oldest and youngest are easy to watch. And then there is Spencer. He wanted  to go outside to play but it was raining so it was a big no. There is a small deck off of my daughter’s bedroom  that they can play and can’t get down into the yard. So he said he was going to play in mommy’s room. Then it was too quiet. I went to check on him and he was inside the door “working” on something. It turned out that he had a screwdriver and had unscrewed the handle/lock to the glass slider.  Completely gone. He knew that wasn’t good so I think he was trying to put it back before he was discovered. He couldn’t do it and to make matters worse, instead of putting the pieces together, he threw them into the yard which is full of yucky leaves from a long winter, yucky-wet-molding leaves.

Then there was the next day. Again a rainy day so they couldn’t go out to play and again I had all three of them. Spencer went to play in his room and after twenty minutes Anderson went to go check on him. He ended up staying in there and I could hear and see they were doing fine. Ten minutes later I hear them at the door to their room. It seemed they couldn’t get out. I went to check and this is what Spencer had done:

They were locked in their room and he couldn’t figure out how to get the doorknob back on so they could get out. I told them had to wait until their dad got home in a half hour and I called their dad. So I kept checking on them to make sure they were okay. I was actually afraid Spencer would climb out the window to get out of the room, and he just potty trained and got used to running around the house with no clothes on so he was naked. Not a good thing if he climbed out the window. So I kept checking and calling them to the door so I could see they were okay. THEN…there was a loud banging at the door and of course I was changing the baby’s diaper so I couldn’t get it right away. It was the property manager. She yelled at me because the kids were “hanging out the window” and throwing trash outside. I explained what had happened and that their father was on his way home to get them out. She is very rude and kept yelling in my face, so close I could feel her spittle. I knew she was going to go yell at the kids so I closed the door and ran to their room and told them to close the window and stay away from it. And yes, she was yelling at them and made them cry, just like she had made me cry. Soon their dad was home and all was taken care of but it was a week ago and I am still shaking when I think about it.

And today I have to go talk to her. I really dislike talking to her. Sometimes she is the nicest person and at others she is the wicket witch.

Wish me luck.

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Stashed Smiles — #WeeklySmile

mileSo I have been trying to keep up with blogging but it has been difficult since the first of the year. I especially wanted to post my weekly smiles because they’re fun. Didn’t happen.

Today, I will bring you a couple of my smiles from the past couple of weeks.

First, there was the realization that I had ThermaCare back wraps! I have been having excruciating pain for the better part of three weeks. Usually, sitting with a heating pad helps but if I need to move around, that’s a problem. Years ago, I used to use ThermaCare wraps when I had to drive from Los Angeles to Santa Cruz (when I visited my son in college). They were great because they provide warm therapy, not the icy cold stuff from some heat patches. And they wrap around you like a belt and secure with velcro. The package says eight hours of heat but I have gotten upwards of fourteen hours. I love them. They are pricey so not to be used daily. I had stopped using them because they no longer fit around me. That was when I had gained all of the weight from that nasty fluid filled cyst I had to have removed in 2015. They had been put away because they didn’t fit. A couple of weeks ago I found them, a stash of about six. And they fit! I was so happy! I used them and saved the last two for those days when I have to go out. That was actually two smiles!

Then there was yesterday’s smile. The background is that when Anderson was little and we used to go out to eat, I would ask him to hand me “two pink” which meant two packets of Sweet N Low. I started doing it to reinforce colors and numbers when he was just about two years old. If he gave me the wrong color, I would remind him. If he gave me more than or less than two, I would gently tell him so. That was a few years ago. He’s now six. Then came along Spencer. He’s three. The reason I started doing the same with him is that he often needs to be distracted from less than positive behavior so I redirect his attention. So, on Sunday, my daughter texted me that they were gong to Costco and asked if I needed anything. I said no. A little while later, I got this from her:

He was trying to buy me a huge box of 10,000 Splenda packets. They didn’t have Sweet N Low.

That was my smile this past week. That little one always makes me smile. I have a couple more of his smiles but I’m going to save them for this coming week because we’re snowed in and tomorrow we will be iced in. That means I most likely will not see Spencer for a few days until the snow, ice, and flooding are under control.

#WeeklySmile is a weekly blog link-up hosted by Trent. Come check out our smiles and share one of yours!

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Ice — #WeeklySmile

I keep trying to find non grandchild smiles to share but kids are such a bounty of smiles that my post are usually inspired by them. And this week is no different.s

Last week, we were expecting (and got) a snow storm. We went out and about the day before, trying to get everything we might need during and after the storm. My daughter was driving (because she says I drive too slow) and the boys were in the back seat. The conversation drifted to the road conditions. My daughter noticed that it looked like the highway we live off of had been coated with de-icer. We were talking about the snow and ice and de-icing and the timing of the next day’s storm.

From the back seat came Anderson’s voice (he’s six). “Boy, I don’t want to go outside. I’m going to run inside when we get home and then I’m not going outside again.” We thought that was strange and my daughter asked him why that was.

“Because I don’t want to have anything sprayed on me so if I go outside I will turn into ice and I don’t want to turn into ice!”

Lots of smiles. Lots of laughter!

Christmas posts from the past that you might enjoy:

The Mighty Mo

O Christmas Tree

The #WeeklySmile is a blog link up hosted by Trent. Come check it out and share a smile with us.

 

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The Haircut–#WeeklySmile

When I was over at my daughter’s a couple of weeks ago, there was a huge fighting, crying scene because the little one wanted the scissors and wasn’t allowed to use them and there were no kid scissors. So as I was putting together their Advent Calendar, which this year took the form of a “grab bag”where they could choose a wrapped gift from a Christmas bucket, I remembered this and picked up two kid ambidextrous (Anderson is a lefty) scissors for the bucket.

I heard from my daughter that they were a big hit then two days later, I got this picture by text from her:

Yup, they cut each other’s hair!

#WeeklySmile is a blog link up hosted by Trent. Come by and share a smile or two with us.

 

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Giving

It’s the day after the snow day. A lot of people are still home from work and school as the roads are icy. I’m sitting at home, nice and warm. I left the house for about twenty minutes to get some food my daughter picked up for me. Yay for food!

Otherwise, I am looking online for ideas for inexpensive but useful groups for the adults I need to get things for. I also order two things for the youngest grandbaby. I have the kids’ gifts ordered or already in my possession so if I don’t get anything else, that’s fine, I’ve got the babies covered!

I also wrote a new Christmas story. This one is a short flash piece (under 800 words). It’s for a guest blog post later this month. It’s fiction. It feels good to sit and write something new. That’s twice this month, both for other bloggers. I’m going to try to come up with something else later today…maybe for MY blog this time!

Are you finished with your shopping? Who is the most difficult person to get a gift for? I’d love to hear!

 

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Heart Attack — #WeeklySmile

Last week, Anderson (6) and I went to feed my daughter’s cats (she was out of town). We ran a few errands and stopped at IHOP. I’m teaching him to read and as part of that effort, I point out signs and store names and whatever print I see that might be easy enough for him to try to read or sound out the letters. So we are driving home and we were passing the hospital when this happened:

Anderson: ER. What is that, Nana? Why does it say ER.

Me: That means Emergency Room. E for Emergency and R for Room.

Anderson: What’s Emergency Room?

Me: That’s part of the hospital and people that are very sick and cannot wait to see the doctor go there. When people are in accidents, ambulances might bring them here to the Emergency Room if they are hurt.

Anderson: I never been to the Emergency Room, right Nana?

Me: Actually, you have. When you were a baby you got very sick and your mommy and I brought you here to this Emergency Room. And in the summer, we brought your mommy here, too. Remember?

Anderson: Oh, yeah. Have you ever been to the Emergency Room?

Me: Yes, a few years ago I had to come here.

Anderson: Why did you come here?

Me: Well, I had some very bad pains in my chest and your mommy brought me here to see if I might be having a heart attack.

Anderson: I had a heart attack too. I get that some time.

Me: You did? When was that? Why did you have a heart attack?

Anderson: (First he thinks about it then…) Well, I was playing and something happened and there was a very loud very bad noise or something and I my heart stopped and I thought I was going to die so I had a heart attack!

Children say the funniest things!

The #WeeklySmile is a blog link up hosted by Trent. Come check it out. Remember that humor is the anesthetic of the brain. We all need that these days. Come see!

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