Grandma's big boy

As Megan and Preston further introduce Bubby to the concept of being a big boy—a big brother—they last week graduated him from his trike to a big boy bike. With training wheels, of course.

Luckily they purchased a helmet to go along with the bike. Bubby's still figuring out how to work the big boy brakes, and Megan reports that there certainly would have been a hospital visit over the weekend if not for the now-scuffed helmet.

In addition to working on braking, Bubby also has yet to master taking turns a little less tight. One particularly tight turn resulted in a tumble off the bike. Megan said Bubby stood up, shook it off, then climbed right back on, exclaiming, "I still learning."

Let's hope Bubby has the same determination and consideration for the learning curve when it comes to officially graduating from "one and only" to "big brother" status. Time will soon tell.

Photo courtesy of Megan.

Today's (unrelated) question:

If you could give anonymous advice to any one person, to whom would you give it and what would it be?

Summer!

Today the trumpets sound and summer officially begins!

Simple seasonal pleasures I look forward to:

• The smell of freshly cut grass

• Raspberries, cherries, blueberries, rhubarb, and sweet corn

• Gurgling from the back yard waterfall

• Scents wafting from BBQ grills ... ours and the neighbors'

• Open windows at night, awaking to a slight morning chill

• Hummingbirds

• S'mores and weenies over the fire pit

• Covering with only a sheet at night

• Dinner parties, game nights, and margaritas on the patio

• Non-party dinners on the patio, just Jim and me ... and the girls, when they visit

• Hot air balloons floating over the house (although the part where they scare the cuss out of Lyla isn't so great)

• Root beer floats

• Sunny day BBQs with friends and family, our place or theirs

• Relaxing in our peaceful three-season porch ... which really can be enjoyed only one season — this season — in Colorado

• The sound of the ice cream truck rolling through the neighborhood (although it would be much more delightful if he updated his play list)

• Apples, peaches, plums, hollyhocks, geraniums, clematis, zinnias, roses, dianthus, day lillies, grape vines and the wild and crazy vine I've yet to identify, growing in the front yard and back. Plus others I try to get to grow in the front yard and back

• Rocking in my rocker on the deck, listening to the birds cheep and chirp and the wind chimes tinkle in the breeze

• Homemade ice cream, at least once

• Watering my flower buckets ... and the zucchini/pumpkin patch that will produce this time

• Our annual summer visit to the desert, this time to not only celebrate Bubby's birthday, but to meet his new baby brother Mac!

Today's question:

What simple pleasures of summer do you look forward to?

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?

Pine cones, pain, and peanut butter

I mentioned in yesterday's post that the book Grandma's Bag of Tricks: Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars is a great boredom-busting book. It's also an awesome need-a-mellow-activity-while-recovering-from-tonsil-and-adenoid-surgery book. I can vouch for that because that's exactly what it offered up for my recent visit to see Bubby while he healed from his surgery.

The mellow activity I chose to do with Bubby was to make a pine cone bird feeder, using the pine cones I packed away in my Grandma Bag for the trip. (I lugged them along because while I have far too many pine cones in my yard in the mountains, they're nowhere to be found in Bubby's yard in the desert and he didn't even know what pine cones are.)

This is how the activity went:

First you take the pine cones ...

Then you add a wire to the top and coat them with peanut butter:

You taste the peanut butter, of course:

Then you spread a little more on the pine cone:

You roll your coated pine cone in birdseed:

And realize too late that tasting the seed probably wasn't such a good idea:

You finish the feeder:

And take a break because your throat hurts so cuss bad (maybe as much from swallowing peanut butter and seeds as from the T&A surgery):

Next, you hang your completed bird feeder in the yard:

And smile so proud for a job well done:

Then you sit back and wait for birds to arrive. Or for a dog, enticed by the scent of peanut butter, to nab the low-hanging fruit and gobble it down within a day of being hung. Which Roxy did. Twice.

So you complete the process all over again (thankful that Gramma brought spare pine cones and seed) and hang your new feeder up for the birds ... only this time you hang it high enough that Roxy can't reach it.

Today's question:

What is your latest project, completed or still in progress?

5 books and boredom busters

Summer will soon be in full swing, which means grandmas, moms, aunts and others will likely have more time with the kids. And likely more time for kids to complain of being bored. That also means, though, that you have more opportunities to wow the wee ones and combat those unnerving "I'm bored" complaints.

Here are a few ideas for preventing the boredom blues, featuring one of my favorite things: books. Try them out on your summer charges, let me know how it goes, and feel free to share in the comments any boredom busters you might have up your sleeve.

Book: Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Dusky Rinker. Cement Mixer, Excavator, Dump Truck and more all work oh-so hard during the day then tuck themselves in at night, resting up for the next day's work. Bubby loved this picture book featuring some of his all-time favorite trucks.

Boredom buster: Take a trip to a nearby construction site to watch (from afar) the work vehicles doing their jobs. Younger kids may want to bring along their toy trucks of a similar sort; older kids may enjoy having a pair of binoculars on hand to get an up-close look at the action.

Book: There's a Dragon in the Library by Dianne de Las Casas. This clever tale tells of Max and his visions of a dragon during story time at the library. Is there really a dragon in the library or is it just his imagination? And how can he convince Mom, the librarians and Officer Riley that there really is a dragon in the library.

Boredom buster: Head to the library, of course, and seek out books about dragons, along with any others of interest to youngsters in tow. While there — or, better yet, before going — find out what activities are lined up at the library, where summer programs for kids are often a highlight of summer. They sure were for my girls when they were young.

Book: Amazon Alphabet by Johnette Downing. This colorful adventure takes kids of all ages from A to Z through the Amazon, introducing familiar folk such as frogs and jaguars, as well as the unfamiliar including the caiman and quetzal. Facts and features accompany each alphabetic selection.

Boredom buster: Zoo time! Many zoos have an Amazon Rainforest feature where kids can enjoy an A-to-Z scavenger hunt of things featured in the book. If your local zoo doesn't have such an exhibit, enjoy an A-to-Z hunt of other animals. If schedules, weather, or budgets nix a zoo visit, use the pictures in the book as inspiration for drawing Amazon animals for creating your own rainforest in your backyard or home.

Book: Grandma's Bag of Tricks: Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars by Sharon Lovejoy. This book truly isn't just for grandma's as it comes in quite handy for anyone looking for activities for kids. With an older child, peruse the awesome options for fun, from restaurant night at home, to pinecone bird feeders, to fairy tea parties, tin-can bands and more. For little ones, pick and choose any of the many perfect for toddlers.

Boredom buster: Not too hard to figure this one out as there are more than 130 activities to choose from. The hard part is making a choice. Consider having the child make a list of the ones you want to tackle together throughout the summer or a visit. 

Book: Meet Einstein by Mariela Kleiner. This book may be designated as for youngsters ages 2-4, but it's a safe bet that older kids will appreciate the straightforward introduction to one of the all-time great scientists. In addition to the story, the inside front and back covers include a pictorial rundown of all the tools needed for scientific exploration: goggles, beakers, nets for catching butterflies, gloves to "protect my fingers from sticky and icky things," and more.

Boredom buster: The book outlines some of Einstein's great scientific discoveries related to light and gravity. Come up with a few experiments involving light — using flashlights, lightbulbs, fire, rainbows — and gravity — any manner of things that go up then come down (spills, jumping in the air) or go up but don't come down (balloons, kites). As the book notes, even preschoolers can grasp the concepts of light and gravity. "Help them make the connection in everything they see and do, and teach them that science is all around them."

Good to know: Clicking on the book covers will provide more information on the books. They are NOT affiliate links, and I earn nothing by you clicking on them. And in the interest of full disclosure, I purchased the Toad Cottages and Construction Site books myself; the others were sent to me for free by the publishers, with no obligation to review or write about them and no compensation for doing so.

Today's question:

Fill in the blank: When I get bored, I ___________________.

Less strange, more grilled

The Internet has opened up an amazing world of opportunities for meeting strangers with whom I'd have never in a million years come into contact otherwise. This week's Grilled Grandma is one such stranger.

I met Melinda through HARO (Help A Reporter Out). She needed an interviewee for an article, I offered up myself, we became less strange to one another.

After a few e-mails back and forth, Melinda offered up herself as a Grilled Grandma. I grilled her, and we became even less strange to one another.

No big deal, right? Such interactions happen all the time. Strangers meet online and make a difference, small or large, in one another's lives.

What made my interaction with Melinda extraordinary — at least for me — was that Melinda has written the book on such interactions and exchanges between strangers. Okay, she's written a book on such exchanges, and I found that an interesting coincidence. As the author of Consequential Strangers, co-authored with Karen L. Fingerman, PhD, Melinda waxes eloquently and informatively on folks on the outer skirts of our social circle, the virtual strangers, the "people who don't seem to matter ... but really do." It's a fascinating concept from a fascinating woman.

Read Grilled Grandma: Melinda. Then read her blog, buy her book, become less strange. We all matter to one another to a degree we never previously imagined. We all are consequential strangers.

Perspective

Like many folks, I’ve faced a fair share of challenges the past couple of years due to the economic mess we’re plodding our way through. I’ve also had a few other challenges and disappointments, many related to family situations, writing failures, and having a big ol’ chunk of my heart residing 815 miles away with my daughter and grandson.

I worry and whine about my woes. Often. More often than I should. Which has been made quite clear to me by a young girl I recently met. Her name is Blessing, and she lives a life far more challenging than mine, with hardships that make my complaints pale in comparison.

Blessing is 12 years old. She lives with her mother and older brother — and umpteen cousins and others — at her grandparents’ shack of a home in Nigeria, after her father deserted the family. Blessing is wise beyond her years, she's tenacious in the face of upheaval, and she's fiercely loyal to her brother.

She’s also not real.

Blessing is the narrator of the absorbing coming-of-age novel I’m currently reading called Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away by Christie Watson. And though she isn’t real, the daily hardships she endures as an adolescent girl in Nigeria are. Fictional Blessing and factual residents of contemporary Nigeria provide a much-needed perspective to my perceived hardships and force me to reconsider pity parties I’ve conducted in the name of my plight.

I whine about having to cut back on groceries and dining out because of a tightened budget. Blessing and her family eat fish stew, stretched with water to feed all the hungry mouths of those sharing their ramshackle home. In addition, yams — one of the few foods I hate — are a staple of their diet, and all meats must be fried to kill the parasites they carry.

I lament not having the funds to spruce up and newly accessorize my bathroom. Blessing has no bathroom, uses an outhouse or a hole in the ground used by all the others in her family. She also has no running water and no electricity.

I complain about having to dust, vacuum, sweep, and clean the cat box. Blessing must collect water in town and carry it home in a bucket balanced on her head.

I bemoan the unsavory parts of my job, listen to Jim and the girls do the same regarding theirs. Blessing is forced to learn and practice the midwifery trade from her grandmother — at 12 years old! One of the other women living with her family has a job as a professional mourner at funerals. Both are happy to have the work, the meager wages that help keep the family fed.

I stress over the usual pains and occasional procedures endured by my loved ones and myself. Blessing fears daily for her brother’s life because of asthma and allergies that wrack his body, made worse by limited money for medication, limited access to appropriate foods, and limited (or nonexistent) sanitation.

I lament needing to lock the doors every night because of increased crime in our neighborhood. Blessing and her family are surrounded every day by crime and violence by way of corrupt officials, warring tribes, and renegades trolling for random victims as well as new recruits.

It’s a hard life for Blessing. It’s an even more difficult one for Blessing’s real-life counterparts, those not populating the pages of a novel but daily traversing the difficult, often undignified — and often fatal — road of contemporary Nigeria’s reality. A road that makes mine look thoroughly blessed and bountiful in comparison.

I’ve not yet finished reading Blessing’s powerful story, I don’t know how it all ends. But I sincerely hope it’s a happy ending for the young heroine and her family. She deserves that. Because although Blessing isn’t real, the positive difference she’s made in my attitude and my outlook is. For real.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away by Christie Watson from the publisher as part of the From Left To Write Book Club, where members write blog posts inspired by books read by club members.

Today's question:

What fictional character has impacted your life?