by Lynda Chitwood

Created on: February 05, 2009

Tomorrow, the baby will be here. His mommy and daddy will drop him off, and go off for a weekend in the mountains, with sledding and snowboarding. Things you just can't do with a 5-month old baby around. A weekend for his big brother to pretend, for awhile, that he is the only child.
Three days for mom and dad to revisit a life that doesn't revolve around diapers and bottles.

The three year old was here a few weeks ago. He's a logical child, that one, telling me it's O.K. to use baby wipes to clean peanut butter off his fingers, and that chocolate comes from Oklahoma. Of course he's logical, his mother once decided to call me by name, and not Mom.
"You don't call me daughter", she reasoned. There is so much of my daughter in him, and yet he is so much a new and exciting young person.

I've had four years to get used to being a grandmother, but every once in awhile, it hits me like a ton of bricks. Or feathers, maybe, because I have yet to have a moment where this new title causes me to feel old. I watch the three-year old run around and the baby smile and laugh and I remember odd moments when their mother was a baby, or when their uncles were toddlers. It makes me feel youthful, and makes me want to stay youthful. I barely knew my grandparents, and while my children know their living grandparents, you can't call them close. I am in no way sitting in judgment, that's just not the road for me.

When she first became pregnant, my daughter made a sarcastic remark that maybe now she'd "Get" me. I warned her that she would get me in ways she never thought possible. Four years later, she still calls me simply to tell me of yet another incident in which she finds herself channeling me.

"Because I said so!"

"Clean up those Legos!"

"Eat the whole sandwich!"

"Don't let the dog lick your cereal spoon!"

"Where are your clothes?"

She always wants to know if she was as headstrong, and I can always produce a tale, proving that her boys come by their traits honestly.

My daughter has gained tremendous respect for me since having her own children. Knowing that I raised her as a single parent for a good portion of her early years, she makes it a habit to show appreciation for her own support system, her husband, her in-laws, as well as me and my husband. She once remarked that she simply doesn't know how I did it and that she honestly doesn't think she is strong enough. That statement filled me with pride, both in knowing that I did right by her and that, if she had to be, she'd probably

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>