Hair with Yia-Yia

Lillian’s Yia-Yia Nancy was off for Good Friday, so she and Lillian enjoyed themselves doing things to Lillian’s hair and re-applying the sparkle to Lillian’s nails — the sorts of things that baffle fathers and grandfathers. They spent most of the day out in the backyard and blew bubbles and spun around until they were dizzy and climbed on things and drew chalk pictures on the pavement and talked and talked the whole day through (although talking with Lillian is pretty easy as she does most of the work).

Her dad came and got her in the afternoon; then she’s off with her aunts Cari and Sylvia to their country place up near Cleveland (Texas) where she’ll spend the night and show off her language skills to a new audience.

Head First

It wasn’t very long ago when Lillian, encouraged by her cousin Katelyn, first started sliding. Now, just a few months later, she’s doing head first slides.

Someone Likes Hearts

“Come on, Grandpa,” says Lillian, “more hearts!” (When Lillian talks — that is to say, most of the time she is awake — all of her sentences are exclamatory; one exclamation point doesn’t do the cadence of her speech justice.)

Of course, if you are grandpa (when she says it, it sounds like “e-Pa”, as if grandpa is just some kind of cheesy knock off of an Apple device) you must draw more hearts, even if your knees are creaky and the concrete is cold and hard. Lillian herself has the drawing of straight lines down, but is stumped by curves.

She loves shoes (especially if they have hearts and stars and sparkles), but she also likes taking them off. She’s found that her great-grandmother’s dogs like little girl socks, and that they can eat them fairly quickly. Sometimes Lilz thinks that’s funny; other times it annoys her. Anyway, the weather is warming up, and she’ll soon join e-Pa in the wearing of flip-flops until the next cold snap in eight months or so.

Palm Sunday Easter Eggs

Lilz hunting Easter eggs one Sunday early. Lillian got the hang of it pretty quickly…

Exhaustion

Lillian had a very busy morning, first making sure the birds and squirrels were in their proper places in the backyard and then helping take her great-grandmother to the doctor. There she pushed her great-grandmother in a wheel chair; she wasn’t happy when she had to stop pushing at the x-ray station, but the savvy tech there handed her a model skull (at least, I hope it was a model) and that kept her entertained. Lilz thought the lab where they drew her great-grandmother’s blood was fascinating, but was disappointed that the phlebotomist declined her offer of help.

When we got home, she scarfed down some milk and a tuna fish sandwich, then got down on the floor to check on the dogs. It must have been comfortable down there, because she stretched out and soon was asleep.

Rabbits and Hairy Arms

There’s a little plaster statue of a rabbit in the backyard that’s made an appearance or two before in this blog. For some reason Lillian loves that rabbit. He’s lost part of a leg and all of an ear and most of his paint, but Lilz carries him around as if he was warm and soft and furry.

When she isn’t taking care of old garden statuary, she’s busy studying her surroundings and offering commentary. As I sat out in the sun, she walked over, ran her hands up and down my arm and said: “Very hairy,” then ran off to chase squirrels.

Not a bad first day of spring, all in all.

Sliding

Since Lillian’s great-grandmother’s knee surgery a little over a month ago, Lillian has not had much park time (though she has spent many hours in the backyard). My mother’s physical therapy sessions are now at the Jewish Community Center, where Methodist Hospital’s outpatient rehab has an office — the JCC is just a mile or so from the house, so it’s very convenient.

But, as Lillian and I discovered today, there’s a playground right outside the rehab gym. I think it’s safe to say that Lillian had a lot more fun than her great-grandmother. The only time Lillian complained was when it was time to leave, which also happened to be the exact moment when her great-grandmother stopped complaining.

Experimenting

As Lillian has passed the advanced age of two years and seven months, she has become much more independent, happily playing in the backyard and inventing new toys from sticks and mud and bird feathers, and experimenting with the uses of water — in the picture above she is spreading a thin film of water on the stone table. When she finished, she tested the hydro planing capabilities of a number of objects, sliding them across to see how quickly they would crash.

Her final experiment involved the hydro planing capabilities of her own bottom.

She discovered that girls’ bottoms hydro plane very well, and she forgot her independence for a little while to seek out some grandfatherly comfort.

Grandmothers: Corrupting Influences?

So, after a delightful four day break eating and drinking her way through Texas BBQ country, what does Lillian’s grandmother Nancy (also known as Yia-Yia) do as soon as she gets back? Takes the Lilz for her first mani/pedi, while Yia-Yia and Lauren get their feet buffed and rubbed and nails painted (or whatever happens in those places).

Lillian was quite pleased with the results, showing her sparkly fingers and toenails to her great grand-mother (“beautifully done,” said she) and to her grandfather (“what the heck is that?” he said. “Sparkles,” said Lillian, with a look of womanly smugness that bodes ill for the future).

While Grandma and Grandpa are Away…

Grandpa and Grandma (Yia Yia) Graves are off on a much-needed and well-deserved vacation; Lillian’s reaction:

Whatever shall I do with myself?

 

Perhaps…we shall party? PAAAARTY!!!!!!

And so she did!