Watch the clock-3:00 p.m., 3:30 p.m. Four o'clock--time to go.
Grandpa and I grab the stuffed green froggy and a sippy cup of chocolate milk as we head out the door to get out the golf cart. The golf cart is electric and we keep it charged for this daily routine. We had purchased the cart when our oldest granddaughter (now fifteen years old) was two. Although faded, it still has her name (Brittany) in big black letters across the front. We had glued two round mirrors on the front and two red reflectors on the back to make it look like a car. She started driving it herself at about four-years-old-as soon as she could see above the steering wheel and reach the go-pedal at the same time. I truly believed it helped her when she began practicing for a learner's permit.
Key on, switch to forward, brake off, press the go-pedal and we are off at high speed (high for an electric golf cart) down the long gravel drive that goes out of the gate and down the tree lined shady lane to the highway. I pull the golf cart over to the side of the drive, pick up the mail from the mailbox, and settle down for a ten-minute wait for the big yellow school bus.
This is our youngest grandson's first year of pre-school. He had just turned four the tenth of September and made the cut by only five days. Attending since mid-August, he looked so tiny his first day and now some six weeks later; he isn't much bigger. I know the bus driver and all the people in cars and trucks sitting lined up behind it laugh at our beaming, smiling, faces. Our hearts swell with pride and love as we watch him climb down the steps and stand behind the metal guard, while looking up for a signal from the bus driver that he may cross the highway.
One day as I was driving back from town and I happened to be behind a school bus dropping kids off from school; I noticed that about eighty percent or better of the parents who were picking up the very young, were grandparents. It's good to know that we grandparents haven't outlived our usefulness by a long shot.
Free daycare can mean a lot to young parents in an economy that has so many major problems. Childcare today can cost upwards of one hundred fifty dollars per child per week. If the parents don't have the luxury of grandparents that can baby-sit, it almost doesn't pay the mother to work outside the home unless, of course, she is a doctor or a lawyer, or works in a day-care center. Most employers frown on bringing your child to work with you.
After picking up our little Mr. McKinley (it was Mickey' until he started school-now he quickly corrects us when we call him that), he doesn't want to go inside right away so we continue to ride around the yard and down by the pond to watch for fish. He offers to drive, but at this early age; we must decline. Memories of his first experience behind the wheel causing shivers to run up my spine. He could reach the go-pedal, which he promptly slammed to the floor, but he couldn't see where he was going. It took all my strength to pull his foot off the pedal, his hands off the steering wheel, and press the brake, while he screeched with laughter. My hair is a bit grayer for the effort.
I don't think I can say it too often-there is nothing greater than being a grandparent-unless it is being a parent.
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http://www.SearchWarp.com/Register.asp Sandra E. Graham, author,
AMOS JAKEY and
NICOLINA published by American Book Publishing. I also write book reviews for authors through Book Pleasures. Do a Google or MSN search for Sandra E. Graham My Books and Articles Home Page for more info on my writings and book reviews.
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