My passion is being a grandma. I met my granddaughter in utero November 2023 when my daughter came home to visit for her baby shower and 25th birthday celebrations. I started talking to her and singing to her so she would get to know my voice.
Moments leading up to being a Grandma
In December 2023 I moved to Las Vegas to be there for her birth! She was due January 4, 2024 and arrived by urgent cesarean on January 6, 2024. She was already demonstrating her strong will. LOL!
Each time her mother had a contraction her heart rate dropped. After knowing her now, I can only think she was saying to herself, I don’t know what they want me to do right now, but there’s no way I’m going down that birth canal to get out. I will just sit here! She arrived healthy after 9 hours of labor!
Grandma in Action
From the time I met her, my heart was full. I would just look at her with memories flooding back of her mother’s childhood. I was not able to have children, so my baby was adopted and brought home at 4 months old. I could not love her more even if I gave birth to her. I was blessed to be able to be in the delivery room and the operating room. Since I did not have the opportunity to give birth to my daughter, it was all new to me and a wonder and an experience I will cherish forever.
I loved being a mother. It was all I wanted to be. And when I brought home my baby I was in heaven. Even better though was seeing, holding and watching my granddaughter who is a part of my daughter flourish.
From the moment I started taking care of her I sang to her at nap time, Jesus Loves Me. To this day, she knows what that song means – Nap Time. And recently she sang the song with me and it wasn’t nap time. She knew the words. Sent joy to my soul.
I mentioned her personality coming through early in her life above. She is an Action child and then knowledge is high on her list. She will do it (whatever it is) hanging off a chair upside down, climbing on my office chair like it is a jungle gym, walking up and down stairs without help. She acts first and then reacts after the repercussions. And she doesn’t stop. She is determined to get it right.
I can just watch her all day, observing what she is looking at and how she interprets it for her own 2 year mind. She is repeating sentences and she is calling me grandma. I waited 2 years to hear those words. Yes she knew who I was and when her mother said take it to grandma, she would. But it’s just something to hear it in your granddaughter’s own words and voice.
She is also a Knowledge. Everything needs to be dissected (which means torn apart), tab books, straws stuck in any item with a hole, etc. And then if it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to any longer, she brings it to grandma to fix and now says it’s broken. I can fix some things but others not so much. Like her pacifier (binky as we call it). She chewed through it and brought it to me in 2 pieces. I said “grandma can’t fix this. It’s broken. Well that was 2 days of reminding her it’s broken.
She likes to sit on the counter while I wash dishes or prepare her food. She comes in and now says “please, please”. That means lift her up. She has been choosing her foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a while. I would lift her up and ask her what she wanted. She was soon able to say no and just giggle for yes. I love that she is able to communicate more. She has always dragged me to the kitchen as soon as she could walk at 10 months. And we would stand in the middle and she would point to where her food was. Now I am still drug to the kitchen, but she will say what she wants – bread, juice, milk, orange, strawberries, blueberries, cereal. It certainly does make the trip to the kitchen a lot quicker and efficient. LOL!
I can’t wait to teach her how to bake. And to sew. She is very observant and inquisitive. She wants to know how every thing I do works. I look forward to doing more things with her