Grandma and Granddaughter

One thing I’ve learned about my Granddaughter over these 6 years. She needs to be kept busy! She is not one that likes to sit for very long, and like most little girls, her attention does not stay on one project for too long. So that she does not think that coming to Grandma & Grandpa’s house is “boring”, I have become pro-active the last few times they have come. I start before they get here, planning for things that I can do with her. This time, I purchased a “Dora the Explorer” Candy Land game, because I know she likes to play Candy Land and she likes Dora. Then I dug out all my coloring books, markers, crayons that I keep here for her. I also got her a new “Christmas” coloring book, and set of “word” flash cards, and got out all the DVD and videos that she would like. I also made cookie dough ahead of time, cut out cookies for Christmas and even made the frosting.

Now, the secret to all of this, is to “space” the activities and not let her know ahead of time all that there is for her to do, or she’d want to do them all on the same day. Wednesday evening, before I wanted her to, she spied the new Candy Land game. She had fun playing it with her Uncle Scott, and again yesterday morning with Grandma.

Early yesterday morning she helped me to bake two kinds of cookies that required her to roll them into balls and roll in sugar. She also helped to eat them after, especially the peanut blossoms with the chocolate kisses, her favorite.

Yesterday we spaced the cookie baking, the coloring, and the games to keep her busy. When I was little, I was kept busy on Thanksgiving morning watching Macys Thanksgiving Parade. We stayed out of our parents hair by watching the parade and playing with our toys. It gave Mother the opportunity to make her Thanksgiving meal, without having to worry about kids underfoot. The kids now days don’t seem to be interested in watching the big parade on TV… I wonder why? It doesn’t even seem that kids play with their toys anymore. Kids now a days seem to hang on their Mother constantly and don’t give them any space. At least, that’s what I see with my Granddaughter. Kids seem to constantly want to be "entertained", it's like they can't use their own imagination or play on their own! Have any of you noticed this?

This morning at 6 am when Dawn wanted to leave to go do her “Friday after Thanksgiving power shopping”, Maddy whined to go along, and wouldn’t stop hanging on to her! So, Grandma brought out the cut out cookies, frosting and colored sugars. We frosted and decorated Christmas cookies at 6 am! Now, for a short while, she is watching a cartoon show on TV, so I am taking that opportunity to write. I’m sure within 15 minutes she will be looking for something else to do! At 8:30 she and I will leave to meet Scott’s girlfriend, Sarah and her Mother at Bridgeman’s for Breakfast. Sarah and her Mother are two of those power shoppers who are out there at the stores at 4:30 am in the morning! Not me. There is nothing in those flyers that would entice me to join those crowds of people that early on Friday morning, nor all day Friday, for that matter! I was known to do that maybe 20 years ago, when I was shopping for inexpensive toys for the kids for Christmas, but in those days, they never opened earlier than 7 am. I won’t do that kind of shopping anymore, probably because I’m not much of a shopper to begin with. To me, shopping and spending money is not worth my getting up at 4 am in the morning!

Later: Report from the frontline of power shoppers: Sarah and Cindi said they got some very good “deals” - good for them. They took a break to eat breakfast, and then they were off for more shopping. They offered to take Maddy along, and she was excited to go with them, she loves Sarah and hasn’t spent much time with her in months. I heard from Dawn that she returned home from shopping at 9 am, with two things from Radio Shack that she wanted to get for her husband and son. Even my husband went out at 7 am this morning. I haven’t heard a report from him yet. He and Dawn left at 10 before I got back home to go work out together at the gym. I passed Rob and Skylar on the road going toward the mall when I was returning home. They slept in, before doing their power shopping. The parking lots at the mall and all the stores around the mall were packed; I’ve never seen Target’s lot completely filled, like it was this morning. Cindi said at 4:30 this morning, Wal-Mart’s huge lot was packed full! I think people must be crazy. I’m just glad I was not one of those crazy people out there this morning. I'm looking forward to dinner at the Pickwick with Dawn and Skylar, followed by "The Lori Line Holiday Concert" at the DECC. Grandpa and the Uncles are taking Maddy to Sammy's Pizza for supper.