The Saturday Post: Baby Girl edition

Graduation season is nearly over. We have our last graduation party to attend tomorrow, for several nieces and nephews. With so many kiddos celebrating their commencements, the graduations of my own daughters have been heavy on my mind, as has one particular song.

When Megan and Andrea were away at college — they went to the same university — they joked about the following song being their song to Jim and me. Andrea, who used to make me CDs of new music she thought I'd enjoy, added it to one of the CDs despite my typical aversion to country music. I did end up loving it, mostly because it always made me think — and still does — of my baby girls. (Although I'm no dummy: I know the "playing here at the bar tonight" line had a completely different meaning for Megan and Andie than what the lyrics intended.)

Oh, and in case you're wondering — or in case my baby girls are reading — I'm still waiting on that letter announcing they'll send us money now that they're "so rich that it ain't funny." Just sayin'...

Today's question:

What genre of music do you listen to most often?

The Saturday Post: Yo-Yo/Jonze/Buck edition

Spike Jonze is a talented director with an interesting vision. I enjoy his videos (Weapon of Choice, in particular) and movies (Being John Malkovich) but I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan.

Yo-Yo Ma is an amazingly gifted cellist, but I've never sought out his music, so clearly not a huge fan there, either.

And Lil Buck? Well, I never even heard of the guy before.

That said, after seeing this mesmerizing collaboration between Yo-Yo Ma and Lil Buck on "The Dying Swan" in support of art in inner-city schools — presented to the online world by Spike Jonze — I can honestly say I'm now a fan of all three.

Modern. Art.

Today's question:

What do you remember of school art offerings when you were a student?

If I were handing out the grades

As some of you may recall, I made a Grandma Mail mailbox for Bubby a few months ago. Since then, I've done my best to get one or two pieces of mail off to him each week so he'll have special mail from Gramma to pull from his box. Sometimes it's a Thomas the Tank card, sometimes a page with a sticker activity, sometimes just some stickers solo.

The mail to Bubby, although nothing major, serves as a regular reminder that Gramma loves him, is thinking about him.

From what I hear from Megan, the little love notes from Gramma have had an impact.

Bubby recently completed his school assessment, which for toddlers means he correctly identified colors, he counted to 10, he said his ABCs, he built a tower, and he recognized body parts.

My smart little grandson not only did all those things with flying colors, he also identified shapes. And he got all the shapes correct. Except one.

Out of all the assessment items, there was one little shape Bubby misidentified. And I must admit here that Gramma's partially to blame for the error.

When the teacher pointed to the circle, Bubby said it's a circle. When she pointed to the square, he said "square." And when she pointed to the triangle, the oh-so-smart boy said, "triangle." But when the teacher pointed to the rectangle and asked Bubby what it is, Bubby proudly identified the shape as none other than ... "mail!"

Not necessarily the impact I anticipated my Grandma Mail would have on Bubby, but a heartwarming one just the same. And if you ask me, definitely worth an extra point or two for thinking outside the box. Or the rectangle, as the case may be.

Today's question:

I'm handing out virtual A's for effort today. For what recent effort do you deserve an A?