Thanks to our Grandparents

This year what I am most thankful for are grandparents.  They were once our parents but they somehow turn into these people who firmly anchor you in the past and just truly appreciate our children.  Grandparents who you once called Mom and Dad now have funny names like Grammie or MoeMoe and you somehow refer to them as that and not Mom anymore.  Its amazing to me that one of my laughing children can create such happiness to a group of people.  We spend Thanksgiving with my husbands family.  Both of his grandmothers are still alive and I don't know if Justin truly appreciates sometimes how amazing that is.  He is able to share his children with his parents parents!!  His mother's mom gets to see her own daughter be a grandmother. I am not sure if many people in life get to experience yet alone appreciate this.  I was extremely close to my grandparents.  They made me feel like I hung the moon.  And it is something I truly miss the further along in life I go without them.  Just the feeling of complete and utter love that a grandparent gives.   And both my children get to have this with two sets of grandparents and two great grandmothers.  So this year I truly have alot to be grateful for but I am most thankful for my family and the grandparents who have loved us unconditionally for years and will continue to love us for years after they are gone.  And we will continue to love them too.  I will go to sleep tonight with warm memories of Jerry, Ellen, & Margaret knowing their love is in my children and I will forever be grateful for that.

All in the eye of the beholder

My Dad came out to visit us this morning.  My mom called me this afternoon and said that my Dad had a nice visit and she heard Rhea was really good.  I asked my mom if Dad mentioned the park.  She said he did.  He said he had a nice time at the park with Rhea.  I then say to her did he mention that she threw a tantrum when we got there because she did not want to go on the swings.  She threw a tantrum when I climbed on the slide with her and when I tried to help her down the slide she threw another tantrum.  She threw a tantrum a few minutes later because I helped her take her coat off.  The tantrum escalated to her rolling around on the muddy ground ruining her new sneaker that Dad brought her.  Then we left.  We were there for approximately 4 minutes.  My father never mentioned this to my mom.  He said she was perfect.  All in the eye of the beholder I guess.

Tantrums

I had expected Rhea to throw tantrums but not this soon. It has slowly been building up for about a month now. The crying fits are now accompanied by hand flailing and foot stomping. This all has happened within the privacy of my home.  This past weekend was a first for both of us.  I asked her to hold my hand while in the Aquarium's gift shop.  She pulled away from me and ran.  I then grabbed her hand and that is when it happened.  She screamed and threw herself on the floor.  I tried to pick her up off the floor but that made things worse.  A group on mothers pushing strollers gave me a sympathetic "Terrible Twos"  Not even close.  Fitful Fourteen month old.  And of course my father rewarded this behavior by purchasing her a penguin book in the gift shop.  I am doomed.