“Nanna!” I hear the
voice as I enter the gate of my son’s house. When I walk through the front door
she runs and clamps her arms around my legs.
While her mother
dresses for work I supervise the little one’s breakfast.
Her tiny hand holds
mine as we farewell Mummy. The emotions of love and trust overwhelm me.
“No Kenzie, you can’t go on your slide, the
grass is wet. Let’s go and put some shoes on.”
Her minor tantrum is
ignored. I find chalk hidden under a plant and start drawing on the footpath.
The distraction works and she takes the chalk to create footpath masterpieces.
Slipping inside, I play
her Wiggles guitar. It soon has her running in to do the actions of “Rock-a-bye
Your Bear.” The front door is closed until the grass dries.
“Dug Dug” she says.
I’ve left Dug the Pug outside. The door is quickly opened and closed again.
We play more Wiggles
music, with actions, then she wanders off to her toys. She brings me a small bucket
full of jigsaw pieces. There are four separate jigsaws in the container
designed to make it more difficult for her. Who is Mum kidding?
The lid is a bit
stiff. “Help pees Nanna”. I tip all the shapes on the table. In no time she has
all four puzzles finished. She completes each puzzle again. I make a mental
note to find a more difficult puzzle for this child.
Now bored with the
puzzles she stands at the end of the hall gesturing with her little hand for me
to follow. In her room she looks at her books. “What about this one?” I ask.
“Nope.”
“This one?”
“Nope”.
“Which one do you
want us to read?” Finally, she picks four. She climbs onto the lounge, taps the
cushion and says “Sit.” We read the books, well, I try to read while she turns the
pages. We make all the appropriate animal noises.
Morning tea time. I
have brought delicious yoghurt with fresh blueberries. I get two spoons, lift
her into the high chair and we share. When I’ve had my fill, I leave her with
the rest. Oh damn! I didn’t put her bib on. The purplish stain is not only all
over her face and hands but on her clothes too. (Mummy will be pleased).
Mess cleaned up, I
lift her from her chair saying, “Up, up up”, then, “down, down, down”. Just
like in the Wiggles song.
“More” I am told so
we repeat it another four times.
Back on the lounge
she takes my hand and starts drawing circles with her finger. I know what she
wants. “Round and round the garden……….”. Such a sweet giggle. Her turn to draw
circles on my hand but at the end of the rhyme I must tickle her. She pulls off
her shoes and shoves her foot in my face. “This little piggy….” You guessed it
repetition.
She takes my hands
to get me to stand and we pretend she is pulling me across the room, then
pushing, then pulling, then….
She is amusing
herself with her dolls, so I slip into the kitchen and empty the dishwasher.
Here comes my little helper.
The grass is finally
dry so out we go into the sunshine to play. After about half an hour she is
happy to come back inside.
Time for lunch. Ham
sandwich for the little one and ham and salad wrap for me. She eats the ham and
offers the bread to Dug. “No, Kenzie, not for Dug.” I get a sweet smile. You
know the one – condescension.
“More.” She eats the
ham and cheese from my wrap.
I take a small fruit
juice from my bag. She knows there is a second one and looks for it. “What do
you say Kenzie?”
“Pees.” It is said
in a way her mouth forms an irresistible smile. Who can say no?
She plays for a
little while but is starting to tire and asks for her dummy “Nunga nunga.”
“If you want your
nunga you have to go to bed.” Firm shakes of the head.
She points to the
remote control. “Puppies.” Okay, if there is no sleep, we’ll have some quiet
time. I put on the Air Buddies movie
about five puppies who rescue their parents.
She is getting
drowsy, so I grab her dummy and bunny. Cuddle and rock her then put her in the
cot and pat her on the back. She is soon in the land of fairies.
I’ve brought some
work with me but opt to watch television for a while. As soon as I sit on the
lounge I have a little black pug cuddled up on my lap. This is his time.
After an hour or so
I hear her stirring. She is standing in her cot still drowsy but with the same
sweet smile. We cuddle on the lounge and I switch the television to The Wiggles and, again, both of us must
do the song actions.
Now wide awake, she
takes my hand and leads me to the kitchen showing me she wants something from
the pantry. “Use your words Kenzie.”
“Biscuit pees
Nanna”.
We share a snack then
pass the afternoon much the same as the morning.
A car pulls in the
driveway. “Mummy!!!” she cries as she runs to the door.
It’s time to go. I
get the greatest good-bye cuddles and kisses. Oh, how I love my Tuesdays with my delightful granddaughter.
I never dreamed the love for my first
grandchild would be so consuming or returned in such an extent.
I drive home with
Wiggles’ songs in my head. They should disappear by about ………. next Monday.
This little piece came about with an exercise for my local writers' group. We were each given a colour as a prompt for a story or poem. I scored PINK. I took the names of the various shades from a paint colour chart to compose this little story
