December 8, 2014

No Batteries Needed

Since I'm a grandmother in training, I have of late been paying attention to little ones who I encounter and how, in particular, they are amused by we bigger ones.  I have but five months to brush up on these tactics so I of course welcome any suggestions from other grandmothers on how to best prepare for the big event.

It's been quite some, you know, since I've been in the baby tending business.  And though one might say that just like riding a bicycle, it will all come back to me, I have my doubts.....I'm that much older now than in those baby rearing days and will I know just what to do to keep the little tot in joyful stitches rather than a stream of tears?

Well, I can tell you one thing:  my sisters and brother and I had a dad who was filled with imaginative, playful tactics and wasn't afraid to get on the floor with us and make a general fool of himself.  He did that, you know, because of the joyful gladness of hearing our peels of laughter and giggles of gladness.

Well, maybe he was just giving our mother a break from full-time, stay at home motherhood.  It's a Dad's job to do that after all.

Whatever the case, Dad let us romp upon  him, after he'd get into his "wrestling" clothes, and ride him like a bucking bronc in a rodeo.  He usually managed to buck us off after the 8 second rule but we'd come back even stronger, determined to tame the beast.

Another favorite Dad game was the chair he fashioned from his outstretched hand.  Every time we'd go to sit down on the chair it would break and we would collapse in fits of glee.  Then Dad would make a deal of fixing the broken chair with nails and glue and invite us to sit upon the throne, only to shatter it once again.  His horsey leg was apt to break as well.

Dad also possessed what might be called "monkey toes".  Strangely, he could manipulate those digits to pick objects up or to deliver a brutal pinch that we all tried desperately to avoid.  To this day I don't believe I've ever met anyone with such manual dexterity and control of one's toes.

Games played with Dad also included tossing and catching the baseball, drop kicking and passing the pig skin, and whipping a Frisbee dexterously through the air.  And learning the fine arts of the game of chess.  We may have been the youngest in our neighborhood to take to that difficult game of strategy.

Whatever the case, Dad always seemed to make time to provide us with plenty of homemade entertainment.  I guess that shouldn't be too hard for me when the time comes to be a grandmother, considering the training I had once upon a time when I was but a little tot.  

But if all else fails, I will start practicing my silly faces.  For what kid can resist laughing at a grown-up who is making a complete fool of oneself?  Who cares, because it's all about having fun and making that little one smile, isn't it?

Yes, and that is something that I think I can definitely manage.