Gwumpa Stories

I’m working from home today and have an interesting peek of a normal day in the household.  My grandson just came in through the doggie door.

Even the best intentions go awry.

I was walking with the grandboy in the neighbourhood and we were discussing what was ok to “shoot” with his pretend handgun (a literal gun made with his pointy finger) and what wasn’t.

Squirrels, trees, parked cars, random bugs and fence posts, ok.

People, moving vehicles, dogs, not ok.

If we’re being attacked then yes, the attacker is fair game, regardless of everything else. But first we establish the level of friendliness by saying “hi” first.

So of course on the walk one of the daily exercisers and we cross paths.

“Hi” I said, as we would normally do. He waves and smiles and says “Hi” with a special one for the grandboy.

I look down, expecting a big wave and response.

The grandboy delivers but adds an unsurprising surprise:

“Hi! I’m not gonna shoot you.”

The subtleties of human interaction are yet to be picked up 😛

I have just been reminded of how tiny the grandboy is.

I asked him to share the malted milk ball treats he was holding and he gave me an entire handful.

There were three of them in this handful.

…the grandson just started hollering just now. Seems he got some ice cream in his eye.

My response? “Of course they call it EYE SCREAM because he SCREAMS when you put it in his EYE.”

I was thinking of this before the explanation came from my daughter’s mouth.

Bad Dad Joke Power to the rescue.

…and so it begins…

Momma, to the grandboy, “Go to sleep nice now because you’re going to have a great day in school tomorrow.”

Grandboy, after giving this a good think, “But I already went to school. I went today.”

Good luck, momma

Good to see that someone’s listening. My grandson just chastised me for opening the refrigerator door.

“Costs money, gwumpa. COSTS MONEY”

What a difference a decade makes.

I’m sharing this thought with my friends using a touchscreen tablet on a broadband connection as my grandson and I are chillin’ to EDM on internet radio station.

And earlier I’d woken up having dreamt of colleagues with whom I’d worked with when I was overseas.

Ten years ago none of this was part of my life.

What’s in store between now and 2024?

i love my grandboy, but the more he helps the less we get done.

Well, good news is that he’s learning how to use a vacuum cleaner 😀

Working on a project for the grandboy.

He saunters over, interested in the goings-on. “Wat YOO MAKIN’?” he says/shouts in his husky morning voice.

Then he spots the spilled glue. “OH. YOU makin’ a MESS”.

Then walks away.

O that peanut gallery

Watching the grandboy devour cold spaghetti, I marvel at the child’s creativity and sheer determination.

Those noodles are pretty wiggly, as is he… 🙂

I think one of the best gifts to give our children is the appreciation and love of silence.

Not muffled suppression using earmuffs, but the lack of manufactured man-made messages like radio, music, or television.

Some of God’s best messages are given in the small, still places between the walls of sound we’ve become comfortable dwelling inside.

I was driving about this weekend and casually reached over for something with my right hand.

“BOTH HANDS, gwumpa, USE BOTH HANDS “, piped a command from the back seat.

We’re in good hands, folks.

I asked the littleun to use his “inside voice”.

And he did.

Apparently he thought he was inside a lumber mill 😛

The littleun is ‘fixing’ a car I’m ‘driving’ that broke. He fixed it and asked for payment.

I asked “how much?” and the answer was “five”.

We settled for “three”. Never too soon to teach free market principles.

We’ll use the proceeds to build a charity ward 🙂