Wrinkles

One of our favorite activities with the grandsons while they're here is hot tubbing. Dylan has learned some confidence in the water and Seth is pretty much a "wild man" with NO FEAR!! Good thing it's a small hot tub cuz he has no problem stepping off the ledges inside the tub when no one is looking. He rarely sputters and of course someone is always there to help him. I think he'd probably swim to the other side by himself if we'd let him.

Last visit the hot tub felt really good on one of those cold nights, and the four of us stayed in for quite awhile. POPS thought we were getting wrinkled and that it was time to get out. Dylan agreed that his skin was getting pretty wrinkled. I told him that I love his wrinkled skin and that I love him when he isn't wrinkled too. He informed me that he loved me when my skin was wrinkled, which was all the time because I'm old. "The only time you won't be wrinkled is when you die," Dylan informed me. We laughed and I decided that it's OK to be wrinkled, in or out of the hot tub!!

Thank God for Elmo!

I don't really believe in using the television for a babysitting device (ha! ha!) but it sure comes in handy for grandparents. In the summer I purchased "Elmo in Grouchland" and it became an instant hit when Seth and Dylan were visiting for two weeks after Bonnie and Aaron's wedding. Both boys enjoyed the video, on TV or on a portable DVD player in the car. Seth liked it well enough to ask for it when he woke up in the mornings. He'd usually only watch for 20 minutes or so (long enough for me to make his breakfast) but he very clearly said "Elmo" when he wanted to see it. I forgot to mention that Seth has several Elmo characters at home including "Tickle Me Elmo" which is really a riot.

As Seth's vocabulary increased over the last two months he was able to make it very clear to us by saying "I want Elmo!" I have to confess that I did let Elmo do the babysitting probably more often than I should have, but it is "G" rated!! The most memorable was on the trip back to Vegas. POPS and I flew down with the boys on 10/19 and we saved Elmo for the flight! Seth was totally entertained for about an hour on the plane. Whew! The other passengers sitting around us were amazed at how "well behaved" he was. Thank God for Elmo!

A Package Deal - "BOP & BOP"

Fast forward 2 years (I will fill in the blanks later) . . . as you know, we are now the grandparents of 2 little boys. In addition to our precious Dylan, Ryan and Lainey blessed us with Seth Christian on 9/23/06 and he is such a Glaser and such a joy! But, he is also TWO-years-old and a strong-willed little guy, just like his dad was 26 years ago. More on that later - I want to share about our grandparent names.

"Grandma Jo" and "POPS" worked great for all of us until Seth started talking. You can imagine the thrill for Roger when Seth first said "Hi POPS!" over the phone to him several months ago! Such an easy name to say and he definitely knew who he was talking to. However, "Grandma Jo" is not so easy to say, so since we go together - a package deal - "POPS" has evolved into "BOP" and Seth now calls us both "BOP!!" He doesn't have a huge vocabulary yet, but "BOP" seems to be one of his favorite words. He can put more emotion into that one little word than I ever thought possible! We just got a phone call (my favorite thing) from Seth earlier this evening and he had lots to say, in his own language. He started most every sentence with "BOP . . . " to get my attention and then he'd jabber away for a little while until he thought of something new. At the end of our "conversation" I was laughing so hard because he was saying, "BOP - go to your room" over and over and over. I think he loved that I was in hysterics.

We just had the privilege of having Seth and Dylan here with us for a week in October. There's never a dull moment when they're here and we miss them when they've gone home. Our hearts are full of unforgettable memories with those two little boys and there's nobody we'd rather be than "BOP" and "BOP!!!"

The Birth of "Grandma Jo" and "POPS"

I've been talking about blogging for a long time now and I finally "bit the bullet." I've been inspired by Tyson and Tracy Smith's "RAM"page and now by Bonnie and Aaron's blog, "The Drake Duo." What a fun way to share news and just to keep up with friends and family.

As you can tell by my title, this blog will primarily be about the blessings of "Grandparenthood" - the greatest gift of growing older! We became instant grandparents to five-year-old Dylan when our oldest son, Ryan, married his beautiful wife, Lallania on 4/29/06. We actually fell in love with Dylan before that when we first met him in 2005. What a precious little boy God brought into our lives - full of love and hugs and fun. And we continue to be amazed and blessed by him.

Without the experience of babyhood with Dylan we needed to quickly come up with grandparent names that would work for all of us. Up to that point Dylan didn't really have a name for me except for "Ryan's mom." I still remember that conversation with Dyl when I asked if I could be his "grandma." He promptly said, "No, I already have a grandma." "OK," I said, "can I be Nana?" Again Dylan said, "No, I already have a Nana." "Well," I replied, "I'm not going to be 'Ryan's mom' forever, so we need to come up with something else." Don't think we decided on anything for sure that day, but later Ryan, Lainey and Dylan came up with "Grandma Jo" and "POPS" which has been perfect . . . . until now . . . .