Let’s Eat Ice Cream and Then Buy All the Toys You Could Ever Want
I've been thinking a lot about my parenting days and I'm not going to lie, I enjoy grandparenting way more than parenting. Most of my memories of being a mom centered around feeling clueless, tired, and like everything was always chaotic.
For me, parenting was like giving a trillion little efforts that individually felt like no big deal, but the cumulative effort was exhausting.
But this grandparent stuff? It's a whole different ballgame. I love every moment we spend with that curious little person, reveling in her joy in discovering the world. And by "the world," I mean a bug, a puddle, a funny noise, or a snowman we put in our entryway at Christmas that she's a little afraid of. I know this because she must hold my hand when she walks past it but still smiles and waves at it.
So what kind of grandparents are we? Let's see...Do we let her eat whatever she wants? Do we never discipline her when she is at our house? Do we constantly shower her with toys, candy, and presents? You betcha'.
Oh, I'm just kidding.
Mostly.
As for our grandparent names, Bill is Pap, which I don't particularly like because when I hear "Pap" the first thing I think of is "pap smear." My preference was Pop but Ainsley decided she preferred Pap and it's not up to me, so Pap Smear...I mean Pap it is.
I couldn't decide on a grandma name - Gigi? Didi? Nana? Nothing felt right. Then one day Pap jokingly called me "The Lady" because I had been nameless for about half a year and guess what? It stuck. Now I'm officially known as Lady.
Oh, and before I forget, let me mention how much I loved those baby squeaks and attempts at communication. Squeak! Squeaky!! Squeak-ity! Squeak! (Hey! I love hanging out with Lady and Pap Smear and feed...me...snacks...)
She’s starting to talk in sentences now. On Easter, she said "I don't like cookies!" which almost sent me into shock because who in the McGinnis family ever says that? Even Bill McGinnis, who was formerly Mr. Absolutely-No-Cake-Are-You-Trying-To-Convince-Me-To-Eat-Chocolate-Cake is now Mr. Loves-To-Eat-Cake-All-The-Time, so there is a chance she will change her mind about sweets.
In the meantime, I wish I could preserve these days, but they keep flying by. At some point, they might be so far in the rearview mirror that I'll have a hard time remembering them, but (hopefully hopefully) there are many more chapters to be written in our grandparenting story.