Babies are made for kissing!

This little darling is my second granddaughter Livvy Lara. She just turned one in late November. 

I wrote the following piece over three years ago when my first granddaughter Tessa was about six months old. Now she is three years and over eight months old! As a matter of fact, Tess will be four in March. This piece was first published in The South Cheatham Advocate newspaper, and still later I used it as a speech in Toastmasters. In both places, people really liked it, so I thought that I would repeat it here. I dedicate it to all grandmothers and grandmothers-to-be everywhere.

Now some people had told me that being a grandmother would be special, but I really had no idea what they were talking about. All I knew at first was that my baby had had a baby. But as the weeks of Tessa’s life passed, I began to spend more time with her--keeping her at my house overnight at least one day a week. Early one morning as I watched Tessa in her new walker, I came to some conclusions as to why being a grandparent is especially cool: the baby and the grandparent are so much alike!

Let me explain some of this phenomenon to you:

(1) Most of you would contrast our physical appearances--her smooth, clear skin to my sun-spotted, increasingly wrinkly skin, her smallness to my largeness, etc., but let’s take a closer look: we both have chubby thighs with dimples, small pot bellies, and upper arms with some extra meat on them.

(2) Then there’s the hair. Tessa was born with a full head of dark, curly hair, and, like me, she has lost some of it.

(3) At six months, she needed a walker, and when my back went out recently, I could have used one, too. Now at 16 months, she walks, but just like me at 62, she is sometimes unsteady on her feet and sometimes she falls.

(4) As she begins to talk, she slurs her words a bit or uses the wrong word or sometimes talks nonsense, not unlike me. And if truth be told, we are both missing some teeth. And if more truth be told, we have little control over our gassiness!

(5) We also embrace similar lifestyles. We both live mindfully in the present moment, truly abiding in the here and now. Time is slowed down for both of us.

Since this blog post is about the younger Tessa, I wanted to include more pictures of Livvy. Their parents may not agree with me, but I think that Tessa and Livvy look quite different and have really different personalities. So far Livvy is more laid back than Tessa, and boy, does Livvy love and admire her big sister! 

(6) We both see things through eyes of wonder. Every little thing so intrigues Tessa and me: a small yellow butterfly navigating the early morning light, the soft black and white fur of my new puppy, the mournful strains of a blues song, and summer’s fresh harvest.

(7) We both need to keep our diets simple. Tess loves her pureed sweet potatoes; whereas for me, it’s the July tomatoes that I like best. And we both need bibs because we spill food down our shirts when we eat!

(8) Our sleep patterns are similar, too. Tessa and I tire easily and nod off randomly. We require lots of sleep and afternoon naps. That’s just what works best for us. By the way, snuggling with Tessa has become one of my new favorite pastimes. There’s absolutely nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby. Unless of course, it is a worn-out, sleeping grandmother.

(9) Part of what I believe makes us so similar is that she’s come from heaven lately, and I’m going back there relatively soon.  (Even if I live to be 85, won’t that be relatively soon?) You see Tessa has been here on earth just a short while, and in a short time, I will be leaving. That’s why we two appreciate each other so much. We are both so close to heaven.

(10)  Just as I teach Tessa things, she teaches things to me. She teaches me to slow down and wait . . . To be in this moment with her. Don’t you remember how sweet the days were when we were young? If we are retired from the rat race and if we let them and if we practice gratitude and mindfulness, the days can be just as sweet again as we age.

All this time, I’ve been wanting Tessa to call me Grannah, but it’s proven to be a  difficult word for her to say. But just this past week, she gave me her name for me. I was swinging her in her backyard, and she was facing me and smiling with delight, when she exclaimed with such pleasure, approval, and elation, “Yaya!” That seems to be the name she has chosen for me. And I like it; I mean I really like it! I am indeed now and forever Tessa’s and Livvy's Yaya.

These are my two granddaughter with Tessa Jean on the far left. I usually keep them every week, one at a time, overnight. Together, at one and almost four, they can be quite a handful! As their mother knows for sure!