Grandchild

Tiny Duchess

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The year has started already and I am slow to start with it.  No resolutions. No new goals.  Just continue to make time with the Duchesses. 

The two older ones are busier these days. I will need to work harder to get in their schedule.  That is part of the process of growing up.  I am thankful I am still able to go and do with them. I am anxious to have a weekend with them again.  I am missing my no longer little Duchesses.

The little one has a hold on me like no one. The first two were a pair.  A lot of time we have is the two of them playing with each other. I suppose it is because in the first days of this Tiny Duchess, I was with my little one so much more.   Or more likely, it is the place I am in my life now.  Older, retired, more time on my hands.  Maybe it is just her.    

At any rate, if I go too many days without seeing her, I start to feel unsettled.  We are hoping she will be ready to spend the night with us soon.  She is like her Paw Paw.  Wants to sleep in her own bed in her own room at her own house.  Don’t tell Paw Paw, but Granny is getting that way, too.

Over my lifetime, I have spent a lot of time with little ones.  Babies and toddlers and preschoolers.  I have known a lot of very sharp little minds.  This tiniest Duchess seems to have an edge on all of them.  I did notice a touch of stubbornness yesterday.  Certainly not her father’s hard headedness, but just a little of wanting to do something and not as easily redirected. 

She is always talking about her Paw Paw.  Wakes up in the morning asking for him, cries for him when she gets tired.  He plays with her like a kid.  The baby whisperer, he has been called.

 Watch his face when he talks to a little one.  He is fully engaged and animated.  To the rest of the world, he is rough around the edges and tough as old boot leather.  But, with children, he is laughter and tickles and tumbling and racing.  It has been said very accurately that you cannot be sensitive and be friends with him.  That is true.  But, not for little ones, certainly not for the Duchesses.  And absolutely not for the Tiny Duchess. 

Getting To It

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I finally got my attic back.  Over the past few years, changes in the housing setups for the children have landed quite a bit of stuff in my attic.  She had a jeep load and so did he.  I got everything down and took it to them.  Then promptly loaded my own stuff up there.  I had things tucked in closets and the washroom.  With a place to put things I don’t use often, I can make room to spread out things I do use regularly. 

The winter cleaning has finally begun.  I started with the washroom.  It is very large and has a lot of storage space.  With the boxes removed and put in the attic, I have space to move things from crowded closets.  My idea is to eliminate layers.  I want to be able to get something from a shelf without having to move other things around.  It will require getting rid of some things, too.  Things I don’t really want.

Both the children have their own homes now that our daughter has bought hers.  I have so many things I have held on to in case they want them.  It’s time to get my house together.  I don’t mind them not wanting things I will offer them.  I just wanted to allow them time to be in a place to take them if they do want them.  Otherwise, the Salvation Army will have a few more things on the shelves.

I have several empty boxes awaiting things.  I haven’t filled them up.  I thought I would have by now.  However, I have had more company than I had planned.  Wonderful company. 

I’m working on a system or whatever than calls for no zero days.  The idea is to have certain things I will do every day and tasks I have on my things to do list and each one counts.  If I do even one of the everyday tasks or one of the things to do, it makes it not a zero day.  One done is not a zero day.

The older Duchess was with me the other day and she and I were talking about it.  I was sort of thinking out loud about it at least not being a zero day.  She wanted an explanation.  I told her that had certain things to do and if I did even one it was not a zero day.  I named a couple of things I had done and she reminded me of a couple more things. 

Her encouragement made my heart warm.  The little ones are paying attention.  Lord, let me get more right than wrong for them to see and hear and feel.