GRANDKIDS GAZETTE - JUNE 2012

   Birthday parties are more fun when the long days of summer give us extra time to play outside.  My four great grandchildren are busy growing up fast so it might be a good idea to give them names that will help you guess their ages.  The youngest we’ll call Twosie since she turned two years old on May 21^st.  The next birthday came June 8^th when her sister welcomed her seventh year so we’ll call her Sevenzie and so we celebrated their birthdays together.  First there was an at-home party with their friends from The Vernon Christian School.  The next Sunday we were invited to Great Grandma’s place at Carrington Retirement Home for a turkey dinner.  All four of the girls liked the green salad so well they were given an extra one to share.      

   When it was time to go to the rest room their Dad borrowed Grandma’s keys and the two oldest children went with him to Grandma’s apartment.  Twosie was cuddling on Mommie’s lap when she suddenly noticed that DaDa and two of her sisters were missing.  She leaped from Mommies lap and decided it was time to investigate the absence of half of their Six-Pack family.  Twosie knows a dozen or so words but all of them were inadequate to express her point.  Her younger sister at age nearly four understood the other half of the family would soon be back.  But Twosie would not be mollified with empty words – it was clearly an emergency.  She had used up the dozen or so words she had already learned but each time she headed for the hallway she saw only strange faces.  One man was so tall she thought his head must have been as high as the ceiling and so she backed away.  He had a kind face but there was no place for Twosie’s feet to go except up and down.  Her sister who will be four years old in six months called across the table, “Mommie can I come over and cuddle with you?”  Mommie replied, “Just crawl under the table and climb up and we three can enjoy comforting hugs together.”  But Twosie’s feet continued to run on the spot and look for somewhere to go to find Daddy or even the other set of grandparents who were far away.  Finally the other half of the six-Pack made an appearance from the hallway.  Twossie’s tearful face changed into a smile as she leaped into Daddy’s arms.  After petting the cat on the way outside we found the van waiting for us and on the way Twosie had a ride on Gi Gi’s walker.  Her smile said, “It was fun having you push me around with your walker Gi Gi (their abbreviation for great-grandmother) but when the others were buckling into their seat belts, her parting smile said, “I’ll be back soon as long as you will push me around with your walker.”