MOMENTS: DejaVu

The last few days I found myself transported back to a much younger time in my life. Holding my grandlove and inhaling sweet baby smells emitted from the blond curls was all it took to ignite my time machine. Being the object of exploration of soft, gentle, probing fingers made my heart warm. Tickling my ears and checking out the details of my gown, the precious fingers caused me to smile. Meeting eyes contacted yesterday's child with today's new love.

When it came to feeding this baby, I found that interest in the spoon was sometimes not as strong as curiosity in surrounding items such as lights, reflections from mirrors, and unseen magnetic visual pulls. This interest in the world served as another connection to the past, as these distractions allowed me to understand the high level of awareness my daughter demonstrated at a very early age.

Inability in mastering traditional crawling techniques hasn't slowed this sweetie down in the least. Army crawling towards the pet dishes, dust bunnies under a recliner or other tempting "no-no" kept me alert to the stealth exploring of tiny fingers and waiting mouth. For now, the photo albums, magazines, and coffee table treasures are safe; however, soon they must find higher ground to stay away from exploring fingers and mouths.

Exercising all the muscles and brain powers zap the energy reservoir eventually and the fight to stay awake is a loud, defiant one. Convincing him to give in to the Sandman makes me chuckle, because his mom was a crusader against naps during her childhood. Her Nana would "trick" her into taking naps by saying, "You don't have to sleep. Just close your eyes for a little while." It worked like a charm every time and my daughter is amazed now, that such a simple trick worked.

Nanas have some special powers that others don't possess. How do I know? Well, now that I am a Nana, I have fought that resistance to naps and so far I am the champion. I'll let you know how it goes, as he gets older, but for right now, we cuddle and I convince him that it will be okay and I am still here and he nods off with a last futile attempt to stay awake.

I appreciate the feeling of watching all the milestones my grandlove meets, for with each one I relive the wonder of childhood all over again. I feel that being a grandmother is the reward for being a good mom, because I see what a wonderful mom my grandlove has. Recently, she hugged her young one to her breast and smiled, "I didn't know that I could ever love anyone as much as I love him."

My thought? "Now, she finally understands how much I love her." What a precious, unique feeling and blessing I have been given. All the gold, jewels, and money in the world cannot buy what I have earned, the love of a child and grandchild.

Thank you, God for blessing my family with love, compassion and appreciation.