Nerding Out…

Lillian would spend all day on the iPad, iPhone or computer playing games or watching weird YouTube videos — if parents and grandparents would allow her to. But they are kind of spoil sports, and don’t.

Yesterday, she got a Raspberry Pi computer kit, and put it together last night, using an old monitor of her grandfather’s.  She loaded the Raspbian operating system herself. Today, we started learning the Scratch programming language and she animated a cat and a unicorn.

Don’t know if we are encouraging or discouraging computer addiction, but we are having nerdy fun!

Foxes and Invisible Diamonds

It’s summer, and I get to spend time with my favorite companion, who moves on to the second grade this fall.

Somehow or another, she has turned into a reader. She likes books about dragons and wolves and unicorns and animals and science.

Holding her hand about 4 feet off the ground, she asked me if I knew what kind of animal was that tall.

“No,” I said.

“A fox. A very, very, very, very, very unusual Fox.”

“Oh,” I said, “what makes her so unusual?”

“She wears a jewel at her throat. An invisible diamond.”

Lillian looked at me for a long time, then said, “Only girls who believe in dragons and chocolate and unicorns can see the invisible diamond.”

“Do we know any girls like that?” I asked.

“Yes, we do. Me,” she said.

Anatomy of a Perfect Afternoon

First blog post in a while — when your granddaughter gets to be seven, you have to start being careful about what you post so as not to embarrass her too much.

We had the Lilz today, as it was MLK day. So we sort of dawdled our way out of our beds this morning. We met Yia-Yia for lunch — goofy expressions and all — then Lilz and I went to one of those paint-your-own-pottery places and spent a happy few hours creating a couple of masterpieces and engaging in collaborative artistic dialogue.

And then we spent a couple of more hours in a neighborhood park, where we’ve gone regularly since Lilz was able to get out and go to parks. She can swing on her own, now, though she still appreciates the occasional push (“Higher! Faster!”). And the concrete whale is a great spot for a dramatic pose and a quick story about danger and derring-do.

There’s no better way to spend a winter’s day.

A Sunday in October

Lillian’s hanging out with her grandparents, and her aunt Holly was in from Los Angeles, and catching a flight back this morning: but first she made a massive breakfast of eggs and bacon and sausage and lox and bagels and bruschetta and so forth. Then we piled in the car and ran her to the airport.

When we got back, Yia-Yia and Lillian engaged in a cutthroat game of Go Fish, and Lillian told us tales of her school and demonstrated some of the exercises she’s learned in P.E.: she’s got jumping jacks down cold, while her push ups might best be described as “impressionistic”.

It’s been a pretty good Sunday so far!

After Three Hard Weeks…

…we had dinner with Lillian and her mom and dad tonight. We saw her sweet, smiling face and got a hug (or two). In the midst of great sadness there can also be great joy. Thanks Josh and Amy and Lillian.

Seven Years of Lillian

Today Lillian Grace Denby turned seven. She is a delight–generous and kind, resilient and determined–with enough stubbornness and mischief to demonstrate conclusively that she is human.

She’s in a camp at NASA this week, but we got to talk on FaceTime and wish her happy birthday. She had eaten macaroni and cheese and chicken, and was about to start on ice cream and birthday cake.

She’ll get some more this weekend from us…