She keeps us in stitches!

It's not a surprise that the birthday bash was a complete success. Almost! The children's' imagination ran wild as they became magical princesses and pirates. The cake oozed with frosting, and perhaps one or two of the children, including ours, simply licked the cake's frosting until it lathered over a thin layer of her great lips..and she slapped her signature crinkled smile.

Mixed blessing this day. She's made so many new friends, and has grown developmentally in just a few weeks. Is it us, the teachers, or is the age four magic? We choose to look at this child we are raising and say that she has been given the gift of good constitution, great temperament, and nouveau patient grandparents. Why nouveau ? Patience is not in the vocabulary of a first time parent. New parents generally practice their parents' parenting skills on their own children and become more skilled, confident, and professional as grandparents. That insight came to me at the birth of my granddaughter. Don't get me wrong, I think we, my spouse and I, were good parents, but one occasionally questions, were we good enough?

Oh, we did things with our kids, we biked, hiked, snowmobiled, went to all the games, did the PTA, PTO, Brownies, Cub scouts, and I even did the leader stuff. So no regrets when the kids pulled a "you didn't do this or that!"

The coup d'etat came the day on our granddaughter's fourth birthday as my husband set off for the car filled with a surprise for the little one's birthday present Simultaneously, the car is brought to a halt, right in front of the child. Just then, he pushes the lever for the trunk and like a jack in the box, the "Barbie Bike popped out of the trunk. Our newly titled bicyclist begins to applaud as if it is a performance she has just seen, and unconsciously runs for her helmet. She knows how to jump on this two wheeler. Poppa and Nana are so surprised. Just so poppa is not outdone by his little girl,he adjusts his body, gives a loud howl with stretched out arms, and then applies the metal to the pedal on his "old, rusty, race bike. Old and rusty is an understatement. It went back to the days my son and daughter rode as my husband and I sandwiched them in between so we could make sure they were safe. We were on solid, safe, straight land in Northern Suburban Chicago. We trained for many months on this wonderful bike, to do a ten day trip in Vermont. That's a whole other story for you to follow. And you definitely want to tune in for that. But there is enough suspense to continue this day.

Poppa and his grace head for their bikes. The untrained youth scrambled ahead, while Poppa kept pulling on the chain now hugging his leg.. Those old racer bikes were something else. They both reach the red light point, where everyone has to stop, and the child looks up at her grandfather. and says "ooh Poppa, you have a bad boo-boo"

Pale, he headed for the house filled with children, who were playfully awaiting the return of the birthday girl.

A lot of pitter patter from the miniature M.D.'s ready for emergency treatment prompted a quick rescue for the injured grown person. Each child brought out their medical kit as I raced to heal the wound. The rest of us expert advisers gave recommendations. "Possible amputation, tetanus shot, and nothing short of a dozen stitches."

All the kids kept us in stitches as they examined the wound, and off went the injured to the emergency room. All in all our grown up grandpa survived eleven stitches, a tetanus shot, and a whole lot of bike. The little people got a whole lot of training on proper wheels for grandpa.