Grace was born on the day after we found out her grandfather, my husband, Alan, had bone marrow cancer, and we were en-route to Arkansas for Alan's first treatment. That's how I remember her age -- she's 9 -- or will be in a little over a month. I think she's the spitting image of her paternal grandmother (Beth) and she does look like her daddy, but I also see her mom in her when I don't see her face. Her body language is definite her mother's.
Grace is artistic. Her scrapbook about her cat is unbelievable (for me who's been doing scrapbooking for years now) and the background papers she chose to highlight the pictures were so well chosen. The pictures popped, but the background was viewable and noticeable as well. I guess you have to see the pages to know what I'm talking about. She's the first grandchild that I have scrapbooked with that didn't crowd each page with as many stickers or other things as they could fit on the page. Her pages were simply beautiful. (Simple, yet beautiful)
Grace is so much like her mother. She is a second child, also a middle child, she is very organized, helpful, quiet, and beautiful, just like her sister Annie. Grace's beauty though is quieter than her sisters. She has green eyes instead of electric blue eyes as are Annie's, so while Annie's beauty hits you in the face like a fist, Grace's beauty comes at you slowly and entices you to watch her and look at her longer than Annie.
Grace has had problems learning to talk. She talks well, don't misunderstand, but she doesn't like to talk if she can't say a word properly. Like her mother, she pronounces "R" like "L". If it's on the end of a word, like "sister", then it comes out like a tough Brooklyn kid as "sistah". Go figure. We try to get her to just say "R" -- as I did with her mother until, I gave up, and then Becky outgrew the problem --- and she says uh -- drawn out. Hmmm. I assume she will have perfect speech by the time she's a teenager just like her mom. Who's to say that Brooklyn-ese isn't proper English? I mean she even talks like a Brit at times -- she says cards -- k ah ds.
On another note -- I didn't mention her voice -- it's so true and good and I love to hear her sing. She's learning guitar and she has just a few songs in her repertoire. (get it? note, voice, music?)
She loves doing domestic things like cooking. I gave her a cook book and cookie cutters for Christmas. She is now cooking quite a bit, which surprised me the other day as she got out all the fixings for waffles. But then, we discovered there were no eggs in the house, so we put the batter in a container and they will mix in the eggs -- probably already have -- for waffles for another day. I guess I just don't think about how grown up my older grandchildren are getting. I mean they're babies, right? Wrong?
Babies last for such a short time. I know you moms who are reading this are thinking, but I'm so worn out now and I'm not enjoying this. I hear you. I didn't enjoy my children when they were babies, toddlers, into pre-teens either because I was so worn out. But once they became self sufficient, I did enjoy my children. I especially liked their teenage years.
So, Grace is growing up and getting older and I'm positively bummed that the babies are becoming older and don't have that dependence on me they once had when I truly "baby" sat them. On the other hand (positive) being waited on hand and foot isn't so bad either, and now the children are at an age where they are taking care of me -- it's really nice.
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