"The Fun of Being With Kids"

My wife is the greatest playmate in the world for small children. I mean she is the best at it. I stand in awe of her. She was a great playmate with our sons when they were small and she is a great playmate for our grandchildren. She can play and play and play and never get tired.

I on the other hand get tired, quickly. When I am helping my two-year-old grandson Walker turn a somersault. I am good for maybe three tries. The problem is that two-year-olds want to do it over and over and over. And that is where my wife never tires. Each time Walker says "gin" she is ready to go.

She also has an inventive mind as to how they would like to be entertained. This past Saturday we kept Walker and his four-year-old sister Genna all day while my son and daughter in law went to a graduation, then a wedding, and then a party. They were gone from nine in the morning until ten at night.

Terry, my wife, started the day off with some musical instruments. They have everything for kids these days and when I say musical instruments I mean musical instruments. We could have had a fifty-piece orchestra if we had wanted to use all the elements on these machines. We played everything from "Old Macdonald" to "The Wheels On the Bus." 

Next we made up our own songs. My granddaughter can really rap. She had the percussion going and was spitting the words out faster than Eminem. Of course her lyrics were anti-violent and clean. Meanwhile Walker was boogying up a storm. The kid has rhythm.

After the music session ended we went to a fast food place to get something to eat, or rather to play on the playground. The food was incidental. The kids were much more interested in the slides and all, than in eating. Even in ninety-degree heat they still wanted to be outside sliding and playing. I watched it all from a shaded bench. My wife was in the thick of things on the jungle jim of sorts.

After lunch and play, Walker took a nap. During this time Terry and Genna went shopping and came home with a "Slip and Slide." These things are dirt cheap and provide endless hours of fun. You get it set up, turn on the hose, and then run and slip and slide. Plus the children stay cool while they are playing on it.

Genna did this until Walker woke up and then he and she plus Terry made cookies. This is another inexpensive fun thing to do. They worked for a couple of hours rolling out the dough, using cutting shapes of Christmas trees (okay we were a little behind the season), and baking them. I participated by eating them.

It was time to start calming down so after some supper they went into Genna's room to watch TV. A few minutes later Genna came out and announced we had better come in there because they had a "bad situation." Her terminology cracked me u p. And the "bad situation" turned out to be the fact Walker had managed to take a mirror off the wall. That was something even old inept me could remedy.

After a few stories, read by my never tiring wife, they were off to sleep. Terry and I were exhausted too but it was a good type of exhaustion. We were tired but completely happy. And thankful. Thankful that God has given us the chance to go through the stages of childhood again. Terry is enjoying it full force. Me, I am tagging along for the ride and loving every minute of it.

 

 

 

 

 

©2004 Jackie K. Cooper

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