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I wrote this story about two years back, so those of you reading this that know me will be able to follow the time frame. I was digging through some of my old newsletters looking for some story I had misplaced, when, I ran across this article. So I said to myself "Self" I bet people would really enjoy reading this little ditty.
My wife and I will have many memories to share with our grand-children, and a lot of them will include the interaction that has taken place while they were in our care. I had the privilege to be the nanny for our first grandchild Jessica. She will be six in October, and from her birth until she was almost four I kept her four days a week while her parents worked. My wife was working a half a day at a middle school in order to obtain medical coverage for the two of us, so it was just Jessie and Papa at Mc Donalds along with all the young mothers and their children. I used to notice on my walks prior to having my baby with me, how the women both young and old would avoid eye contact or speaking when we would meet. Now I know so many of them from our visits at the play grounds that they consider me one of the gang. Even today some two years later I meet people that I can’t recognize coming up and asking, “Aren’t you Jessica’s Papa?”
Another thing that is apparent is the fact that so much of the colds, allergies, and infections are passed on by their siblings. Now that we have a new brother (Dallas Kenneth) 6 months, he is the recipient of numerous runny noses, ear infections and every thing that happens to be new in the neighborhood, courtesy of his big sister and the kids at school. Jessie never had an ear infection, and very few runny noses while she was in my care. I took her out almost daily from day one on long nature walks, rain or shine and introduced her to flowers, creatures, rivers, highways and anything that is an everyday occurrence. I remember while our State Franchise Tax building was under construction, there happened to be a short labor strike, so I would push her buggy by daily and talk with the pickets. Many times a person intent on crossing the line turned around when confronted by a baby buggy.?
Almost from the moment of her birth I would lift her from her buggy to smell the flowers, and view the water fountains, and on one occasion a butterfly landed on her nose when her face was deep in the rose bushes. To this day she will always stop at the first bunch of flowers (and even dandelions) to pick a bouquet for Papa.
I love my wife and all four of my children, but there is a bond with this grandchild that is so strong it is hard to describe. My baby daughter is the mother of our two grandchildren, and she was the squeaky wheel that got the oil when it came to attention in our family. She demanded and got what the others wanted but didn’t always protest loud enough to receive. So it was the natural thing for me to stay with her and the babies at their birth for the first few weeks while their father was working, and bonding was the outcome of this practice.
Having experienced all this, I now realize so much that I missed with my own children by being absent at work during the day and why I feel so many women that have to work are sacrificing an important part of their nature by not being present to witness this precious infant grow into the curious toddler, and on to become a mischievous preschooler. Enough of my rambling, but I guess you can tell who has the key to my heart. When these two grandchildren enter my presence, they can actually change my attitude, and the way I am feeling for the better in most cases.
We have just finished the Thanksgiving holidays and during this period I had some spare time, so I decided to view some of our family videos that I had filmed with our cam-corder. A lot of these films were about our grand children and watching them made my mind wander to yester-year. I was remembering when Jessica would question me on so many things that came to her mind. I would try to answer her questions to the best of my ability. She loved books, and requested that I read to her several times a day. Her father and I kept her abreast of all the important happenings in Mr Rogers neighborhood, and all things extraordinary in the land of Barney and friends.
I was viewing some footage of the time I gave her a house I had built for her. It was a large cardboard box that our giant T.V. was shipped in. I cut windows in both sides and a fancy door. I then fashioned a pitched roof with over lapping pieces much like shakes or shingles. When it was completed, Janey and I painted the exterior, and detailed the roof with individual shakes of different shapes and sizes. We painted window boxes on the side with painted flowers inside. After all this we put a small plastic chair with a plastic box inside to hold some of her books and toy’s. I will never forget her words when she first saw her castle. “ For me Papa ’’she asked? Talk about melting your heart. She walked all around her house several times before entering. After getting acquainted with the inside she then looked out the window and said “you come in Papa” I had to reply that Papa was to big for her house but I would have tea and lunch with her on her table outside the house. Boy what a project she made of this. She got all her dishes, silverware, pots and pans out, spread them all over the table and started cooking. Then she would dish out all this make believe food into our plates. It was so cute watching her ask if I wanted more salt or sugar and if I said yes if there had been anything in the shakers I would have gotten a sugar jolt from the amount she poured. She would then ask “Do you like it Papa? Do you want more?”
And then there was the time at Mc Donalds in the play area. She loved to climb up the rope ladder and go through the tree house and down the slide. On many occasions I would have to coax her out of a situation where her leg had slipped through the webbed rope part that you crawled on. This one time she had gotten her leg caught so deep it required me to climb up the rope ladder, go through the maze and release her leg. I then had to go down the slide to exit. What a sight this must have been to those watching, to witness this well past 60 grandpa with a bad back over six feet tall twisting through this maze in pain and stiff joints fighting me all the way. I did receive a round of applause after we got back to our table. These people at Mc Donalds must have wondered about me, because I would never buy any of their food. I would at times pack a lunch, or wait until we got home to feed Jessica as I didn’t approve of the junk food served in these places. Many times when she would be playing with other children, and I took my eye off momentarily, I would catch her begging french fries from other tables. On special occasions I might stop at Taco Bell and get a soft shell taco, or at Burger King what she called a hammy. It was their whopper and I would quarter it and after a few bites she was satisfied.
When I saw the film of her play pen it made me recall the many times I took it out in the front yard, and placed it in the shade of the trees. I would load it with her favorite toy’s and place her in side. I got me a good book and sat out there with her; but she wanted me to play with her and I might as well do this cause I had no peace until I did. After she got older and could crawl in and out of this playpen I would refer to it as mean peoples jail. When she did things I didn’t approve of I would tell her to put herself in mean peoples jail and she would crawl over the top into the playpen and look through mesh sides at me like a prisoner peering through bars at jail. When she got tired of jail, she would simply crawl out and start playing again. Much like some of our penal colonies today. Here she is in jail, making a phone call to her lawyer.
Then there was the time we all decorated her tricycle for her first July 4th parade. She was so proud, but not nearly as much as the rest of us. Her aunt Tana lived in a section of Sacramento that still held their own neighborhood parade and celebration. All the people participate in the festivities, old cars, mini-bikes, miniture cars driven by youngsters, oldtimers in their uniforms, you name it they had it. We were a little concerned as to her endurance capabilities in completing the whole circuit. No sweat, I think she could have made it one more time with out any trouble.
Another problem that we are dealing with is now that she is six and becoming a young lady, the introduction of modesty. I first realized we needed to implement this policy when she was swimming in her little plastic pool in our back yard. I was sitting out there watching her, when she got out dropped her swimsuit and peed in our back yard. “I said Jessica what are you doing?” She replied “ daddy told me not to pee in the pool” How are you going to argue with that logic? And she just adores out door toileting when we are camping out. I have to find a spot where she has enough bushes for privacy; but short enough that I can make sure she is safe. She still doesn’t see the need for all this fuss but I guess she is trying to humor her senile Papa by co-operating. I have to take good care of her, because in a few years she will be raising me. Here she is driving my motorhome at Lake Tahoe.
