February 5 – “Cousisters”

Boy, did I ever have a special treat this morning.  I had breakfast with both of my lovely granddaughters.  Noa spent the night with us, and Cailyn came over early (around 6 a.m.) to wait for her Dad to pick her up and take her to school.  That was a pretty special occasion for me.  Now we didn’t get to make any further plans about how I want to dance with them at their respective weddings, but we did talk some about how best to eat a toasted frozen waffle.  General consensus was that as long as some type of syrup was involved, it really didn’t matter whether you grabbed a piece with your fingers and dunked it or used a fork and pushed it around in the sweet mess.  Ah, it’s great to have solved one of the mysteries of the universe with two such wise young ladies. 

Cailyn was the consummate older cousin, a real “cousister.”  Kind of like a big sister, you know?  Noa was close by when Cailyn got dressed for school.  As Cailyn pulled on her pants, Noa pointed to them and said, “Pants.”  Not a bad observation for an almost two-year-old, I thought.  But what do I know.  As gently as she could, Cailyn corrected her with, “No, Noa, these are khakis.”  Apparently there is a difference.

Cailyn attempted to continue her cousin-ly educational programming with a lesson on the proper techniques of pushing a doll in a stroller.  At first Noa was captivated at the idea, and followed “Big Sister” anywhere.  That is until she came across a pile of baseballs.  And of course she had to stop for just a second.  Think about it.  A pile of baseballs.  Come on, what you do with an unprotected pile of baseballs?  She stopped.  And when she was finished, well, let’s just say there was no longer a pile of baseballs.  Now that brief setback didn’t stop Cailyn  With the patience of a veteran preschool teacher, she calmly turned the stroller around and suggested, “Hey, Noa, why don’t you throw the balls to the baby?”  Great thinking, Cailyn. 

Sadly, that game didn’t last but a few seconds.  Noa decided it was time for the doll to be released from the stroller.  Cailyn obliged.  After all, they were back to playing with the dolls, which was what she wanted all along.  Cailyn carefully folded the doll into a blanket and gently handed it to Noa.  Quite the touching sight, I must say.  Noa accepted the makeshift human and hugged it tightly to her chest … for about 5 seconds.  Then it was time to change gears again.  Unwrap the baby doll.  Grab it by one arm and drag it behind you.  And track down the nearest baseball.  There it is.  Toss the baby aside.  Grab the baseball.  Give it a huge toss.  Guess which one of the two has three older brothers?

So … two granddaughters.  Never did get the hand of doing girls, either growing up with my two brothers or raising my own three boys.  This girl thing looks hard.  And incredibly awesome. 

Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

Father, thank you for our two special little granddaughters.  Keep them safe as they grow and mature into beautiful young ladies.  Amen.