Tag Archives: grandmothers

Under the wire…

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Shannon| 3 Comments

How could I not post in a month?! How could I do it!!! To you of all people. I am a horrible person.

But here I am, getting it in just under the wire on this most important of all mommy-holidays. I have a million excuses, but they don’t matter. I have several posts I have been percolating and a few in draft form that I’m just not ready to share. Maybe June will be their month?

I’m ringing in my Mother’s Day with a midnight glass of Sicilian red something-or-other and wasabi peas. I have been packing to head to my in-laws from where I currently am residing, in my mother’s house, where my daughter has been soaking up the daily enrichment of yards, swing sets, sandboxes, children’s activities, gardening, and endless grandmotherly attention. It’s nice to let her go barefoot in the grass now and then. As long as there are no toads.

My daughter had her first horseback riding lesson last week and she did great! She has been excited to get back on a horse since her birthday party last summer. The stable that provided the horses for her party also gives lessons and her teacher this week seems to be a natural with little ones. She had a huge smile for the entire session and was totally fearless about helping to brush the horse off in the cross-ties. I was really proud of her and I hope she gets to do another lesson really soon.

Yesterday, she visited the Audubon Bird Sanctuary for their kids’ program and saw them tagging and releasing lots of little songbirds. She made a “nest” and learned about different kinds of birds’ nests. Then, she attended a Suzuki violin recital. She sat through all but the last THREE songs, so close! She liked hearing the kids play and it was hard to make her stop trying to hum along with the songs she recognized.

Now I’ve had enough wasabi peas that my eyes have started to water and my nose is running.

It’s also 3am, I should probably go to bed. Happy Mother’s Day to all my fellow mamas, may you feel appreciated, get to brush your hair before leaving the house, find something you’ve been looking for over several weeks, whatever you need most.

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What is the SPF of hummus?

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Shannon| Leave a comment

My daughter has been sampling the playgrounds of Western New York. On Sunday, we went out for our “Mother’s Day” brunch with my mom and her request was that we take my daughter to a playground beforehand. So, we went over to the elementary school near where I went to middle school. The first playground we spotted there was WAY too big-kid. As we were leaving, we saw the little-kid playground behind the school and drove back in and around back to get to it.

It was still a little too advanced for my almost 21 month old. Also, there were huge bees everywhere. There was absolutely no shade and the sun was pretty hot. We only stayed for 15 minutes or so, then headed to a different playground to see if it was better. It was only slightly so. It was still hot. There were still bees. My daughter started to get pretty pink even though she had on sunscreen.

What is up with the no-trees around playgrounds? Trees are nice. They provide shade and squirrels.

Squirrels grow on trees, right?

Today, we went to the playground near my mom’s house. It was about to rain the entire time, but at least that meant it was overcast. No bees. I guess bees aren’t attracted to that type of plastic slide. Or maybe it was the slightly squishy ground cover made from chopped up tires, I suspect.

I was putting sunscreen on my kid on our way over and she still had hummus from lunch on her face, so I hope hummus is either good for your skin or provides sun protection, because I didn’t take it off. We were alone at the playground until another woman and a little girl showed up. I thought the woman was her mom. Maybe it was the tank top and the black bra? The cleavage? The short shorts? I’m not sure. But all I know is that “gramas” didn’t look that way in my day. She was apparently the girl’s grandmother. I don’t know if I find this disturbing or comforting.

We left just as it was starting to rain. When the sun came out later, she spent about an hour “gardening” with her grandmother. I don’t know if it was the hummus or the overcast weather earlier, but at least she didn’t get pink today.

It was probably the hummus.

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Little girls who are cute all over town

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Shannon| Leave a comment

On this trip, you know we’ve been cute all over Target so far. We have also brought delight to a few restaurants (I missed you Panera!!), shops, a mall, an AT&T store, and one very special Obama for America campaign office.

My daughter got to see her great-auntie, our friends and their toddler, her grandfather, and her boompa’s (step-grampa) parents too. I am pretty sure they all think she’s completely adorable.

I’d post pictures but I didn’t really bring a camera with me and I haven’t tried to put any from my mother-in-law’s camera on my laptop. I should probably do that. We’ve just been busy playing in the yard and telling the dogs how bad they are (trust me, they’re bad). I feel like we wake up, get the day started and before I know it, it’s time for a nap. After naps, we get ready to go do something and by the time we head back, it’s time for dinner or bath, and then bed.

Anyway, my daughter has been charming many people in the past week. She even manages to convince her grandmother to pull her around the backyard in a wagon with a rake and a hoe and several balls in her wagon as well. I don’t think she does that for just *anybody.*

Tomorrow is our last day before we head home on Wednesday. We’ll try to cram in all the cuteness we can before we go.

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Grandma’s house is like a parking lot

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Shannon| Leave a comment

Look, this is 1 of 4,225!


My daughter and I have now visited BOTH grandma’s houses during this holiday break. I have learned a thing or two about having a precious toddler in residence at their doting grandma’s domiciles.

1. All the toys in the world are not more interesting than unexplored kitchen cupboards.

2. Breakfast consists of whatever Grandma makes plus whatever mommy ends up serving up because a certain toddler didn’t eat the former.

3. If putting the kid to bed isn’t hard enough, add to that the long good-night adoration fest and your tot’s awareness of an attentive grandma just steps away, ready to play night-time games.

4. Grandma’s house is like a parking lot: there are almost no rules. You want to play with that? Sure, why not. You want to eat that? Here take a bowl. You want to make noise? Have a large aluminum bowl and a stick!!

5. Bath-time at home is going to seem totally Dullsville now.

6. All attempts to destroy property are considered “cute” and “clever.”

7. There is almost no sense of proportion when it comes to photographing the minutiae of your child’s daily activities and especially none when there is something “traditional” going down.

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