REALLY?

I can hardly believe The Grandbaby is 11 months old.  Really?  It seems just like yesterday that she was born.  Next month the big celebration will be a party for a 1 year old baby.  The Grandbaby.  I figure since I see her practically daily, I notice changes being more subtle.  When I considered my blog readers, I thought maybe you would like to see how she is as an 11 month old.

I will readily admit to not having my camera with me to capture pictures as often as I used to; however, I did take it with me to her house a couple of days ago.  I was rewarded with some of these wonderful shots of her in various forms.  Some pictures are from the past few weeks but most of them are from this week.

She loves riding in the wagon and can I say that The Poppa LOVES pulling her in it.  His exercise level has really increased since The Grandbaby began to grow.  With the possibility of her beginning to walk in the very near future, all of our exercise programs will increase I am sure.

This beautiful hat is vintage.  It was worn by The Grandbaby's mama.

This hat is new and a sunhat for her trip to the beach soon.  Unfortunately, she REALLY hates hats.

See what I mean?  She pulled off the new hat already.  She doesn't like hair bows or hair bands either.  That's why she wears so much pink or girly clothing....so people won't mistake her for a boy.

The Girl found a dress for The Grandbaby on clearance for single digit price.  The Grandbaby loves the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show on television.  Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog!

Look how nicely she stands with support...and take a look at that long hair in the back and those chubby legs!

The Grandbaby wears more smiles than frowns.

She really is going to need a hair trim for her birthday.

She didn't pay any attention to her hair bow until the photo session was almost over so we can all enjoy these pictures with hair bow in the hair.

Oh, and you probably noticed that she's sporting two bottom teeth!  Finally.

She intently watches her cartoons....

...and loves playing with many toys...Curious George is a favorite.

She's beginning to walk with a walking toy with more help.

This very week she learned to put Nemo (or at least that's what we call him) into one of her favorite cup stacking toys and then she learned to take him out and do it all over again.

She does have a trait of her Gramma.  Her Gramma thinks that if one sticks out the tongue when concentrating, it makes the task more successful.

The Grandbaby enjoys "talking to herself" (another Gramma trait) while playing.  The Gramma, though, cannot sit in this fashion.  Shucks, The Gramma can't even hardly sit in any fashion on the floor.  Sadly.

Unfortunately, her BF is her pacifier.  Hopefully it will not be her BFF.  She learned the trick just this week of picking it up from the floor (if the sucking part is up) with her mouth as she lay on the floor on her belly.  Look Mamamamama....no hands!

I understand that someone in the household actually bought a movie.  It was not The Mamamama nor The Dadadadada of the household.  Hmmm....

For the longest time, she would put EVERYTHING in her mouth.  EVERYTHING, that is except food.  Finally, she discovered scrambled eggs.  (Amazing, since no one else in HER household will touch any kind of egg.)  After that she has enjoyed vegetables, waffles, and puffs....oh, and yeast rolls....  Yum....

Here's a couple of the "official" 11 month pictures.  Kudos to The Niece for making such a wonderful memory board.

She still loves to play peek-a-boo with anything she can find..

and still laughs every time.

The Grandbaby that is mine has such social "skills"....friendly, happy, and joyful most of the time.  Like all of us, there are times when she is not so much so but still the majority of the time she is happy.

So with all this cuteness overload, if you are still reading and looking to the end of this post, I'm sure you will realize that this Gramma is one proud Gramma.  I wish I had more energy but will use what I have.  It's like the song I used to sing to The Girl....and still do on occasion...."It's my job and I like it fine.  No one has a better job than mine!"

I give thanks multiple times daily to my heavenly Father for this blessing.  My prayer is that she will always be kind and love Jesus.  I could not ask for more.  

SPRINGING FORWARD?

No, no, say it ain't so!  I don't like when messing with time messes with my quality of life.  Why can't we just leave some things alone?

NEGATIVE IONS

A good friend of mine passed on to heaven many years ago at a much too early age.  Even now I have sweet memories of her.  The memory I recall most often is how when she would have a bad day, she would say there were negative ions in the air.

I will readily admit that Science was my very worst subject in school.  The WORST.  I can relate to weird days where many things seem to not go right, though, and I, as my friend did, say that negative ions are in the air.  For all of you other Science-was-my-worst-subject-in-school folks, I did take the time to look up the definition of "ion" just in case you, like me, wondered.  An "ion" is:

an electrically charged atom or group of atoms formed by the loss or gain of one or more electrons, as a cation (positive ion) which is created by electron loss and is attracted to the cathode in electrolysis, or as an anion (negative ion) which is created by an electron gain and is attracted to the anode.

If my friend were still with us and experienced yesterday afternoon as I did, she definitely would say there were negative ions in the air.  It seemed as though I was working in slow motion.  It was a day that I worked in my office for money.  When I left the office much later in the afternoon, I had a few errands to knock out--quickly knock out I hoped.  First problem was traffic.  I'm not talking downtown capital city traffic.  I'm talking traffic in my own what-used-to-be small town.  Granted that had nothing to do with negative ions.  That had to do will elected officials and their poor planning.  But that's a blog post for another day. 

I finally got to my last stop, my favorite local grocery store that also houses the pharmacy I use.  This store begins with a "P", for all of you who wonder.  At that point, I was SO thirsty so I began my visit there with a diet coke from the deli department.  In that department, drinks are self-service.  I got to the deli fountain, contemplated my drink size, and pulled out a cup.  After filling to the brim with my favorite diet coke, I sat the cup down on the area beside the fountain and reached for a medium plastic lid.  Well, it was too big.  I reached again and it was the same thing...too big.  Hmmm, I thought.  The deli workers must have "misfiled" the lids.  I tried yet again--do people ever learn--at which time a teenage girl sitting by the area (I had not noticed her since I was in my "zone".)  said quietly to me, "You have a small drink."  Well, imagine that!  No wonder the mediums wouldn't fit.  Instead of being embarrassed as I might have been years before, I laughed out loud and said to her, "Ha, you are so right!" and laughed some more.  She sort of smiled as if she were wondering what planet this old woman was on.  Duh.

I was reaching for the small lid--which would fit--and I knocked over my diet coke.  Ice and diet coke went everywhere--on the counter, not on the floor thankfully as I couldn't have bent to clean the floor.    At that point, the girl's mother who was sitting there observing the whole mess, reached for paper towels above my head.  (Good thing she did, I didn't notice them at all.)  The girl's mother offered to help me--imagine--but I told her I had great experience in cleaning up my messes.  I cleaned up my mess, told a deli worker what I had done in wasting a perfectly good cup (my spilled stuff was in it) and offered to pay for it along with my new one that had my drink AND the appropriate lid on it.   He said certainly not as if it happened all the time. Really?  My mind was thinking....negative ions. 

I put the drink in the baby carrier section of my cart beside my two "green" grocery bags and headed to the bakery.  I will preface this by saying that I rarely get cookies in my grocery store that begins with "P".  On this day, I had realized earlier that I forgot to eat my lunch and by 2:30, the leftover meatloaf and green beans didn't appeal.  So by now after 4:00, my sugars were dropping and I could feel it happening so I went for the cookie.  With the male bakery worker's back to me as he cut and bagged wonderful smelling bread, he said, "Be with you in a minute."  I decided it was a good time to take a sip of that great diet coke.  As I picked up the cup from the baby carrier section of my cart, the lid bent slightly, came unattached, and I juggled the drink.  Maybe I can be a circus juggler some day.  Luckily, the drink didn't spill.  Or maybe I should say miraculously the drink didn't spill.  I took a deep breath.  Whew!  At that point, all the napkins I had kept from the drink fountain flew to the floor.  As I had to bend to pick up all four from various places in the floor, I thought again....negative ions.  

I did get my cookie.  I chose the Black/white cookie....one of those doughy ones that is half chocolate frosted and half vanilla frosted.  If you're gonna get a cookie, best make it a good big one.  The tag in the deli case said $1.69.  I took the bagged cookie and went to get my prescription.  The girl and her mother from the deli were there waiting also so we smiled, greeted each other as if we were old friends and laughed again about my prior predicament.  I got my prescription and went to the check out lane.

I did notice that the cookie I got had a tag on it that said $1.89.  Hmmm.. I was wanting to eat a cookie for $1.69.  I checked out and decided to go back and take another look at the cookie in the bakery case.  Maybe I was wrong with these negative ions.  I wasn't.  I discussed with the male deli worker and he said either the sign was wrong or the computer was wrong.  He suggested I get my credit at the service desk.  

Well of course there was a line of folks buying lottery tickets at the service desk....must have been a big drawing.  I wouldn't know as I've never bought one.  But that's another blog post for another day.  I must keep on track...you faithful readers will tire of my story.  I got up to the service desk and explained to the guy what happened and told him I just thought I would retrieve my twenty cents.  To my surprise, he gave me $2.  Huh.  I looked at him with a puzzled expression but then smiled as he said that this grocery store's promise is that if something is charged incorrectly, you retrieve the whole price and get the item free!  Huh!  That's when the negative ions became positive.  😊😊😊

Later as I related my experience to The Husband, he looked over and said, "Ever consider that those were more of SENIOR moments?"  You know, he could be right.  😉😉

The moral of this story, you ask?  I don't really know except that maybe it's to remember that life is short.  Even with negative ions, don't let life get you down but s-m-i-l-e.  It could be worse.  😉

On this day.....

....and EVERY day.....