Fairy Dust

Even before our first grandson, Timothy, made his appearance in July of 1999, I was searching garage sales for baby items .   The first treasure I found was a crib, which I acquired from another grandma moving on to the next stage of grand-parenthood.  After the crib came baby blankets, stuffed animals, rattles, baby shampoo and bath toys.  Eventually, we added a changing table followed by the infamous “potty chair” to our expanding collection of “things for the grand-kids.”

When it became obvious that our old antique high chair was no longer serviceable, it was replaced by a bright yellow and blue booster seat.  This was followed by toddler sized plates, spoons, forks, and a variety of colorful sippy cups.  Since Timothy’s arrival, eight more wonderful grand-babies joined the family.

“Baby” Timothy is now seventeen and the others range in age down to the youngest being four years old.  Gramma’s house is still a magical place for all of them and they will find age-appropriate toys and activities when they visit.  We left the infant/toddler stage a few years ago, with those items being sold on garage sales and replaced with old school desks, footballs, board games, and art supplies.

A variety of toys and activities have appeared over the years.  A favorite activity, for all the grand-kids, like kids everywhere, has been tent-building. Card tables with a supply of old blankets are always ready for that adventure. These tents grow to room size during a day, with multiple rooms and entrances.  Over the years, long forgotten toys have been taken out of storage in the basement. The grand-kids are always awe-struck whenever I tell them their mothers played with a ‘new’ toy they discovered in the play room.

Even though an upstairs bedroom has no beds in it and is designated as The Play Room, toys seldom stay there.  Whenever grand-kids visit, toys make their way downstairs, and our living room floor gradually becomes covered with trucks, balls, blocks, books, and menagerie of toy animals and Barbie dolls.  These inanimate objects come to life when the kids and Grandpa create wonderful imaginary worlds, understood only by them.

Our grand-kids have been coming to Grandpa and Grandma’s house ever since they were newborn babies.  In their minds, our home exists for the sole purpose of their entertainment.  They are as comfortable here as in their own homes.  From the oldest to the youngest, they still love to do sleepovers at Grampa and Gramma’s house.  On a really-special sleepover, there will be cousins staying, as well—and Swedish pancakes for breakfast.

When they were toddlers, my heart melted when one of them came running into the house and exclaimed, “Grandma!  Are you happy I’m here?”  Am I happy?  Oh, yes, I’m so happy you’re here!  As a matter of fact, I’ve reconsidered the statement about grandparents sprinkling fairy dust.  I think the author has it turned around. Now, I truly believe grandchildren sprinkle fairy dust in the lives of their grandparents.