Tag Archives: grandparents

Pumpkin Patch

Posted on by
8

I got to go to a pumpkin farm for the first time ever this past week — and I loved it! When my now 20-something daughters were little, Tate Farms pumpkin patchTate Farms pumpkin patchagri-tourism had not yet made the news and farms were something you wanted to get away from, not pay money to spend an afternoon there. But at 18 months, grandson Capt. Adorable is ready this fall for his first pumpkin experience and I was lucky enough to go along with him and his mom and dad. We visited Tate Farms in Meridianville, Alabama (on the east side of Huntsville) and as soon as we stepped out of the car, the Captain was wriggling with delight. It was like the wide open running spaces, inviting playground equipment, oh-so-cute baby animals and piles of brightly colored pumpkins and gourds had been created just for him. In fact, he was in such constant motion, I had a hard time getting photos — he hasn’t quite grasped the notion of photo ops yet. At the Pumpkin Shack that was set up for proud-parent and -grandparent photos, he was more interested in dismantling the rows of pumpkins than in posing for the camera. But Grandma snapped away, anyway! Find out more about Tate Farms at http://www.tatefarmspumpkins.com/

Family

Posted on by
3

Backyard poolIs there anything better on a hot summer day than Capt. Adorablecooling off in your backyard pool? Especially when the pool is a family heirloom? My mom had this inflatable pool at her house more than 20 years ago for her granddaughters and now her great-grandson thinks it’s the best thing ever. Honestly, I didn’t remember the pool, but my mom kept saying, “I have the pool the girls played in and it would be perfect for Capt. Adorable.”  And she was right! It fits just exactly on the patio, which is in the afternoon shade, and 17-months-old Capt. Adorable and his mommy get out and have fun in it almost every day (although that’s the Captain’s aunt in the photo). Say the word “pool” and the Captain’s at the patio door, ready to go. It took him awhile, but now he’s fully conversant in the arts of splashing, pouring and dumping cupfuls of water on anyone brave enough to get close.

Reading

Posted on by
6
Capt. Adorable

The only thing my 16-month-old grandson, Capt. Adorable, sits still for is "reading."

Books

Posted on by
8
My mom reads to my grandson, Capt. Adorable. I love that they both are holding their mouths the exact same way.

My mom, "Grommy," reads to my almost 14-month-old grandson, Capt. Adorable. I love that they both are holding their mouths the exact same way.

Arrggghhhh! No, it’s not Talk Like A Pirate Day. That is me being aggravated at myself for forgetting things. Like today. I was hanging out with family all day — including grandson Capt. Adorable, my parents and both daughters — and then came home to more computer problems so I spent an hour on the phone getting my wireless router reconfigured and then completely forgot I had an AAUW book-club meeting tonight. I love my American Association of University Women group because those ladies are so dang smart — I just sort of soak up wisdom whenever I’m around them — and it aggravated the bookbejebbers out of me for forgetting it was meeting tonight. Also: I was looking forward to hearing more about our book. “The Golden Child” by Penelope Fitzgerald. Written in 1977, this novel is a delightful poke at pretentious high-museum politics as a world-famous archaeological exhibit opens in London — and murder and mayhem ensues. With proper English decorum, of course. I had never heard of this book or this author, who wrote her first book at 69 so that means there is hope for the rest of us, and I wanted to learn more. Oh, well. Plus, this week I also have forgotten three water bottles and left them at various places: 1) My parents’ refrigerator, 2) the local library board room (which doesn’t sound as impressive when you know I was there only for a Harry Potter book-club meeting) and 3) well … I now have forgotten the third place where I left a water bottle. I think it’s time to go to bed.

Grandparenting

Posted on by
3

You know how people say, “Oh, you’ll love (fill in the blank)” and you just nod and smile and agree politely because how do you know you’ll love (fill in the blank) until you actually do/are/try (fill in the blank)? That’s how I was when people told me, “Oh, you’ll love being a grandma” — but after 53 weeks and some days of being one now, I can tell you: Those people were right! Read more at my weekly newspaper column, http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090403/ARTICLES/904035000

Babies and Cell Phones

Posted on by
5

Motorola MOTO™ W755 in purpleI’m apparently one of those grandmothers who will give their grandchildren anything they Danielle McCann Photographywant. I was not this way with my two daughters — as they’ll happily tell you — but something’s happened in the intervening 20 years or so and I’ve been reduced to a “Whatever you want, sweetiepie” maternal spoiling-machine. But my grandson’s so cute! He’s adorable! How could I resist those sparkling blue eyes, that precious little curl of soft wispy hair at the back of his head and those darling pudgy little fingers? So when it turned out that one of his favorite things was my cell phone, I turned it over to him without a thought. He loved the beeps and chirps. He was delighted with the lights and the colors. It was our thing: He wanted it, so I gave it to him. Other, wiser people were cautious, however. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” my daughter — his mommy — asked me. “Are you sure you want to do that?” Of course, I assured her. I’m a cool grandma. It’s fine. Until, that is, it wasn’t. Turns out baby slobber has supersonic powers to short out cell-phone speakers. Who knew? Now you do. Read more about it in my column, http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090306/ARTICLES/903065003.

Babies

Posted on by
5

baby-day1I love this pic, on the left, of my daughter, her husband and their baby — my baby-day-0031grandson, Capt. Adorable. I took it this past Sunday at their church’s Baby Day, which is a Sunday once a year when the church honors all its babies born in the past 12 months.  That’s not a giant baby head behind my daughter — each baby had its own photo on display, and of course Capt. Adorable’s was the best. In my opinion. This photo clearly shows why everybody says Capt. Adorable and his daddy look so much alike. And I loved my daughter’s outfit. You’d never guess that she’s wearing a maternity sweater — she wisely bought some clothes when she was pregnant she could wear later, too. I’ve seen very unpregnant women wear this same style. During church the honorees sat in the front with family members behind them. Even though I amused myself by trying to catch Capt. Adorable’s eye during the service, but he wisely paid no attention to me. He’ll change his mind, though, when I’m the one who’ll let him eat candy and french fries.

Photo Gifts

Posted on by
6

photo-books-003It’s not Valentine’s Day yet but you know you need to think photo-books-0061about those other gift-giving occasions coming up — weddings, graduations, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and family reunions. Want to earn fame as the best gift-giver ever? Two words: Photo books. Our older daughter and her husband gave us two for Christmas, and they top my grab-in-case-of-fire list (daughter and her husband as well as photo books, of course). I had seen these done as wedding albums but honestly never had considered them for anything else. What are photo books? They’re hardback bound photo-books-0041books printed with your own photos — your own personal photo album. My daughter said she got the idea after she photo-books-0052was bemoaning a small budget for gift giving and I told her all we her family wanted was more photos of new baby Capt. Adorable. After that, because she is young and techno-savvy and up on all sorts of cool stuff, she knew exactly what to do. There are several  sites that offer photo books (Kodak, Apple and HP do — search on “photo books” for more) . Liz chose Walgreens (http://photo2.walgreens.com/storepage/storePageId=MemoryBooks) and was pleased with the results. She had great fun, she said, designing layouts and playing with the photos but if that’s not your thing you can make it as simple a process as you’d like. Prices range from $10 to $50 and up, depending on your choices.  She did one on our beach trips — Capt. Adorable’s first tastes of sand and surf — and one on his first six weeks. Everybody who sees these just melts and says, “These are wonderful! I want to do this.” And you can.

Family Fun

Posted on by
8

nolan-jan-2009-021I love these photos of three of the most important people in my life: nolan-jan-2009-0201Older Daughter holding her hands out to her son, Capt. Adorable, who is curious but cautious and unsure but trusting on his first trip down a playground slide, with Younger Daughter in the back being supportive and encouraging. And Grandma — me — is there snapping pictures, as usual. This answers the age-old question, of course, of how many people does it take to get a 9-month-old baby down a slide. I’m sure this same adoring fan club will follow Capt. Adorable around as long as he’ll let us. I mean, what kid wouldn’t want his mom, his grandma and his aunt to applaud and record and document every proud moment???

Pouting But Still Cute

Posted on by
8

pouting-baby-005My 7 1/2-month-old grandson, Nolan Thomas Behel, was not having a pouting-baby-002good day. His mommy had just tried to suction out his stuffy nose, then she put a hat and scarf on him and then put him in his stroller to go shopping with his Aunt Carolyn and his grandma (me). This was the first time we’d ever seen him cop a bit of an attitude, and it was hilarious. He was so mad at us — wouldn’t even look at us or smile! We just laughed at him. Poor baby! Actually, I’ve seen this exact same expression on my husband when I make him go shopping, although I don’t make him wear a hat and scarf. And even though Nolan and his step-grandpa are not related by blood, it’s further proof that all men, no matter what their ages, share the same DNA.