Bells will be ringing, plus GRAND Social No. 65

Today the school bell rings and Bubby sets out on his education journey. First stop: Kindergarten!

That's the proud student at his Open House last week as he got his first glimpse of his classroom and teacher. (Do note that the sign in Bubby's hands, pre-photo editing, had Bubby's real name not his bloggy name, handwritten by himself. So cute!)

Meeting a new teacher can be a wee bit scary for little ones, but not Bubby, for his teacher is none other than his mom! This will be Megan's first year teaching at a public school rather than private, and she and Bubby both lucked out with her kindergarten assignment.

Good luck and best wishes to Bubby on his first day in kindergarten! Good luck and best wishes to my daughter Megan, too.

Cheers to a great year for all kiddos and all teachers as the school bells ring!

And for all us grandparents and other Grandma's Briefs readers, cheers to GRAND Social No. 65! Thank you for joining me!

How it works:

• All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

• To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

• You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

• Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

<a href="/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

• The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.


• If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

• For another grandparent linky, visit Connie's Grandparent's Say It Saturday Link Party each Saturday.

Newfound skills

Hard to believe, but one week from today, Grandma's Briefs will be four years old.

My very first post, published July 25, 2009, featured a Bubby that looked just like this:

Now, four years later, here is that precious baby boy displaying for Gramma some of his newfound skills:

I'm pretty proud of how far Grandma's Briefs has come since that first post four years ago. I'm even more proud of how far Bubby has come since that first post four years ago.

The kid is indeed awesome... times four and more!

Today's question:

Of Bubby's newfound skills, which are you best at?

Five and ready to dive

Bubby loves the water. For several years now, my oldest grandson has taken swimming lessons.

He's enjoyed outdoor lessons:

And he's enjoyed indoor lessons:

What Bubby has not enjoyed was being restricted by Mommy and Daddy from jumping off the diving board on his own. Bubby has begged Mommy and Daddy again and again to be allowed to jump off the diving board like the big kids. Their response was always, "You'll get to do that when you're 5 years old."

Well, guess what? Bubby turned 5 years old this week.

Which meant the waiting was over!

The much anticipated dive attempt was planned for Bubby's official birthday.

So on Tuesday, Bubby's official birthday, a visit to the pool was the highlight of the day.

Bubby stepped right up, and he jumped right in:

Mission accomplished!

Another milestone met, another big-boy achievement checked off.

Today's question:

When did you last jump off a diving board?

Picture this: Thirty-one years!

Happy anniversary to my partner in crime grandparenting!

 

Today's question:

What has been your most memorable year of marriage so far?

Bubby can read!

Bubby recently graduated from pre-school, with plans to move on to kindergarten this fall.

Having a mother who's a teacher means Bubby has the privilege of private tutoring sessions to prepare him for the new school year. Here is one of his first lessons with teacher Megan, er, Mommy:

My, how time flies. Seems it wasn't that long ago that I posted photos of my precious grandson playing with his poop. Now he reads — unquestionably, a more pleasant pursuit.

Today's question:

Who was instrumental in helping you learn to read?