This week, Grandpa spoke to a friend, a new grandpa, who was very excited to have a new baby granddaughter. Grandpa said, “just wait. You think it cannot get better, but it does. Just wait until she is older and can communicate.”
He is absolutely right. When Grandchildren can communicate, grandparent life becomes even better.
It is wonderful to spend time with the little ones. It is wonderful to FaceTime with the little ones. But, access is dependent on the gatekeepers, the parents of our grandchildren. A grandma friend, this week also, said that I was absolutely right about the gatekeepers. Her daughter found offense at something she recommended and, all of a sudden, her daughter was too busy for the grandma friend to see her grandchild all week. My grandma friend knows why. She said she will listen to my advice to say nothing.
In this day and age where our contemporaries are moving away from the telephone too (no one leaves messages on answer machines anymore because no one listens to them), our grandchildren are not telephone people when they are old enough to communicate on their own. They text. Even our nine year old granddaughter has texting ability on her iPad. She is too young for an IPhone!
I have become a texter, if that is such a word. Siri does not like me, so I tend to peck on the keyboard. It is so wonderful to be able to communicate with our granddaughter directly. Tonight, reading the New York Times on line, I came across an interesting article about a Facebook video of Sophina DeJesus, of the U.C.L.A. gymnastics team. She did her first floor exercise with the whip, nae nae, hit the quan and other hip-hop dance steps in between her tumbling routine. If you read this Grandma’s blog, you know all about these new dances. See post.
It seems that Sophina DeJesus’s performance has been shared on Facebook 400,000 times! I made it 400,001 by sharing the link to her performance with our granddaughter.
The performance is amazing. Watch it.
My granddaughter wrote back:
“what is that for? even thought it’s really amazing that she did what she did and it was her first time”
I wrote back:
“She is on UCLA gymnastics team. I will send u NY Times article about her and new hip hop dancing in gymnastics. Yes, amazing! She did not get a 10! 9.925. “
I sent her the link to the New York Times article to read:
We continued texting, with my granddaughter saying Sophina DeJesus should have gotten a ten. It gave grandpa and me the opportunity, of course, to tell our granddaughter that she is a ten.
Sharing life with a school aged grandchild is watching them with their friends and getting to know their friends. Our granddaughter is into tennis a big way and competes in tournaments and one of her best friends is a gymnast who competes in gymnastics tournaments. I suggested she send the video link and article to her friend who I know well.
Of course, she thanked me. I know she was texting her friend right after we finished.
I am appreciative to be able to share her life and share life with her directly. Yes, grandparenting gets better. We no longer have to assist with the heavy lifting of a baby and toddler grandchild, and just as we get longer (we never say older) we have even less responsibility, less dependence on the parents of the grandchildren to facilitate our communication. We can talk their language in their language in the way they like to communicate. When we hug, they can hug back harder. And so much more, as if there could be more
Joy,
Mema
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