Nothing brings a smile to my face than memories of my grandchildren at their cute stage. What they say and do are worth keeping a journal of. I have written about Maddie when she was between age 2 and 4 and reading them warms my heart. I want to continue the same with her younger brother Luca who is now 3 years and 2 months old.
I took care of Maddie, now five, once a week when she turned two until she was ready for kindergarten. When it was time for me to do the same with Luca in September of last year, I expressed my fears to his Mom. I never have taken cared of a boy before having had two daughters and no son. Wendy, Luca's mom, reassured me it will be no problem. It was actually smooth sailing.
There are similarities and differences between the two siblings. Just like Maddie cannot sleep without her plush toy, Puppie, Luca cannot sleep without his Amen, his cuddly one. He also brings it everywhere just like Maddie does with her Puppie. Whereas Maddie loves to play with dolls, Luca favors cars. I actually do not see the fun in moving those toy cars back and forth on the table at all but Luca does this with a lot of intensity and joy. He loves bringing them everywhere. Now and then I would find one or two in my hand bag.
Luca went through a phase before he turned three of saying the word NO rather emphatically. No. No. No. Thank goodness he is over that. One word he still says repeatedly ad nauseam is WHY which is followed by another why and another. He gives my aging mind a lot of exercise. I for one do not want to tell him tall tale of a reason but I have been tempted because of exasperation.
He goes through phases. We are all relieved that "His dread over going to daycare" is over. He went through that stage for several weeks and has just stopped crying when he is dropped off.
Overall he loves food. He has not reached the picky stage yet. After storytelling at the Monroeville Library, our favorite jaunt is McDonalds where we meet his Aunt B for lunch. There he relishes his chicken nuggets and fries. It is no surprise he learned the letter M early before he was three since he loves the place. He loves to play being a McDonald sales person when we go to the yellow playground where there is a sort of store. When he charges me for my order he loves to use the number 8 for every thing. I really do not know how this love for this number originated. Ask him how many things there are and his answer is 8.
When I think he does not listen to what I say, he has surprised me many a time with phrases he has repeated after hearing them from me. One time he said something to me that hurt my feelings. I actually repeated what hurtful thing he said and explained to him how it broke my heart. Ever since that time he uses that phrase "you broke my heart" every time his feelings are hurt. One time he even told his Dada, who looked sad that his heart must be broken.
One time I mentioned to him that my back hurt every time I picked him up and put him in his car seat. I also told him I wish he could go up the car and into the car seat by himself. I was very touched the following week when he tried his best to climb up the car and even get into his car seat. He has done so ever since even proudly saying "I am now a big boy".
Out of the blue yesterday morning when I was at their house, he said, "I like being with you, Lola". I said something similar to him and Maddie at the end of their overnight stay at our house this past weekend and he must have liked the phrase.
There are other things he utters that I think comes from his own heart. The one thing that always melts my heart is when I say I love you to him and he says back tenderly and softly, "I love you too". I am over the moon every time.
I know there will be more memories to encapsulate in the future but these are more than enough for now to draw from when I need a smile on my face and warmth in my heart.
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