Mostly Girl Stuff

Among the flurry of activities going on this weekend, my grandson attended a birthday party for a little girl in his classroom. I took him shopping on Friday evening with three coupons in hand from Build- A-Bear Workshop, which is where he wanted to get her present. He’s very coupon conscious and thinks if we have a coupon, by golly, use it! I discovered on this shopping trip that he is rather smitten with this little girl (he’s eight!). As we proceeded through the building stations, he decided to put a voice box in the bear that said, “I love you.” I tried to discourage it by saying, “How about a box that sings ‘Happy Birthday’ instead?” I finally had him talked into it and then discovered they were out of them. I caved in to his first choice, against my better judgment. We picked out an outfit (he couldn’t have cared less about that) then proceeded to the computer to type in the certificate. It was the most involved he ever got with picking out a birthday present for someone. On our way out of the store, I suggested that he must really like this little girl. “She’s my girlfriend,” he replied. “Does she know she’s your girlfriend?” I questioned, wondering how second graders have such a notion. “Yea, she told me,” he said. I couldn’t help but giggle a little at the thought of telling someone you are going to be their girlfriend. He added, “I needed Sissy there ‘cause I didn’t know what to do.” I suppressed another giggle and just smiled, wondering why he thinks his fifth grade sister would be such an expert on the subject. Anyway, I hope her parents don’t think the present is too ‘over the top’. Hubby picked him up from the party so I didn’t get a chance to talk with them but I think I’ll try to call her mother tomorrow.

While the grandson was at the birthday party, I took his sisters to an event at church. The women’s group had a doll making presentation given by a professional doll maker. Everyone brought dolls that have special meaning for them. The granddaughters brought their Middleton dolls (Abby and Lulu) and I brought a doll that my girl friend from high school made for my oldest daughter when she was a toddler. In the picture, it’s the one with the yellow yarn hair beside the youngest granddaughter. She doesn’t have a name, poor thing. My oldest daughter wasn’t much interested in dolls and sure didn’t name them. The granddaughters picked up the doll nurturing skills from their mother (we still have her Jessica and the three year old still plays with her even as old and tattered as she is). It was fun and interesting to see all the different dolls, old and new. All the girls from three to ninety ‘something’ enjoyed sharing about their dolls and why they were special to them. We took this picture early so there were many more dolls added later.

Speaking of the daughters, our youngest and her roommate moved into a new apartment last week. So the kids were extra excited to visit this weekend. It is so much closer to our house, it’s clean, it has several nice areas where they can play, and it has a pool and a park close by. A positive move for everyone, I think. The eldest daughter is feeling much better. Hopefully, she won’t have another gall bladder attack before she makes it to the surgeon on the 20th. No news on the ultra sound yet. I'll keep you posted, Grandma Jean!