Grandchildren grow up a lot quicker than I would have imagined. In a matter of months, looping animated “Baby Shark” songs streamed on Netflix were replaced with endless choruses of “the eight planets” songs. But these also seem to be yesterdays news. For the last couple of months, Zander, the boy who turns five this summer, wants the animated adventures of “True and the Rainbow Kingdom” playing on our television. He has less interest these days in the ball pit -a little mesh arena filled with colorful plastic balls -we set up for him in the living room for the last couple of years. Now favors the grownup dining table for snacks and play, and he doesn’t want to sit at his little table. Like most boys he loves to bounce on trampolines, but has outgrown our toddler trampoline.
The 18 month-old is adept at a sort of toddler chess. When she got irritated when she could not play with the same blocks her brother was building at the table, I picked her up for cuddles. That was not what she wanted right then. When I gave her a substitute toy, she “negotiated” with me for an alternative. She recognized the difference when Pop-pop gave her the ROKU controller with batteries removed. She waved a hand to ask me to dismiss the ad interrupting her shows. Last week, I ran out of things until I gave both her brother and her small flashlights. She has learned the push-buttons to operate it. However, she still wanted to play with “brother’s” blocks. She was not going to be deterred. Gramma came to our rescue.
A couple hours later, with the kids returned to their parents, Pop-pop was getting ready for bed. To soothe my tired back, I intended to elevate the head of the bed. But where did the remote go?
The last thing I recalled was Serena happily playing with its buttons and was moving the bed when Gramma was changing her diaper. It can only be somewhere in the house three feet and below.
It's a Dog's Life 