The Absolute Best Part of a World-Wide Pandemic

I am sitting outside my 2-year-old granddaughter’s bedroom acting as her jailer. It is 1:30 PM, well into designated nap time, and we are determined that Lucia doesn’t stop napping. After all, we have a new baby arriving next month, and we will all need that rest time, even if Lucia doesn’t.

 

So, you may ask, how did a 70-year-old grandmother get to be in this position? 

 

[Excuse me a minute. Lucia just tried to break out again, slowly turning the doorknob, sneaking through the door silently. Then, when busted by Grandma, angelically explaining, “I wake! Time get up!” 

 

No.  Scooping her up, I sweetly explain “Time for sleeping.” And she is once again tuggled up under the covers.]

 

So, again, how did this happen? The answer is Covid. 

 

Over a year ago my daughter Mary and her husband Krystian called us up. Both were moving to remote work for their employment, so, they explained, “Why not come to Provo until we go back to normal? We never have enough vacation time to spend with family, so why not take advantage of this chance? We can work from your home as well as from ours. You can help with childcare and we will get to hang out with family after work.” They went on, “It will just be for a couple of weeks.”

 

We cheered! What a great idea! The best part of a world-wide pandemic.

 

And it really has been. The “couple of weeks” stretched on, as their work continued to require remote work, until here we are, over a year later. While I love having my grown-up kids nearby, there is nothing quite so wonderful as living with a 2-year-old. 

 

[Wait a minute. Do I hear movement behind the door? Ah yes. The handle turns and there is that sweet little pig-tailed head smiling up at me. “I hungy, Grandma?” So pathetic. “No, Sweetheart. Time to eat later. Now it is time to sleep.” Once more, scooped up, kissed, and snuggled, sung to, and tuggled in. We’ll see how long this lasts.]

 

Oh, but, here are the reasons I love having Lucia here:

 

1.     All my grandbabies have been born at a distance from where I lived. I would get to see them maybe two or three times a year, but never could see the day-by-day growth, never could have the daily bond with them. I’ve seen Lucia grow from an 18-month-old who could barely climb stairs and say some words, to a little chatterbox who drags around her little stool so she can climb up on anything and get into everything.

2.     I get to see Lucia first thing in the morning, when she is a little sleepy and cozy. Or sometimes she comes into my bedroom all excited for the day, “Need ‘nana, Grandma! C’mon!” Then she tugs me down the stairs to get breakfast.

3.     We get to listen to songs together. Every morning we say, “Alexa, play Super Simple Songs!” Then we sing along to “The Wheels on the Bus,” “Five Little Ducks Went Out to Play,” and, the current favorite, “Old McDonald Had a Farm.” I’ve never enjoyed doing housework more than when I am be-popping along to Lucia’s music, with Lucia by my side.

4.     Sometimes Lucia is the music master. She has a little story book that will play music when she presses a button. She will press “Hokey Pokey,” and we will put our right legs in, put our right legs out, and shake them all about. We do the hokey pokey, and laugh and giggle and laugh some more. I have to say, that’s what it’s all about.

5.     We have all the toys out that our children played with when they were little. Lucia carefully puts the old cylindrical Little People into their little cars and airplanes and flies them around on all sorts of adventures, just as her mother and her aunts and uncles did before her. It’s comforting to know that some things never change.

6.     We get to read stories together: old classics like Pokey Little Puppy and Home for a Bunny; and new-to-me classics like Ten Little Ladybugs and The Hug Machine. Nothing is better than having a small child on your lap intent on figuring out the story. And absolutely nothing is better than getting to do that every day.

7.     We get to go outside together. This little one sees. And because she sees, I do. Rocks that sparkle, flower petals, grass. The texture of tree bark, the taste of leaves, the movement of a small bug. 

8.     We can play at the park. Up the stairs and down the slide and in the swing. Chase the ducks and climb on the rocks and throw stuff in the water. Everything makes Lucia giggle, and I giggle too when I am with her.

 

Now, that’s not to say some things are not harder. She dumps out the blocks and all the toys every day and, though we sing “Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere,” this Grandma is the body that usually does most of the cleaning up. I have to do a little more planning to arrange for doing things like go for a walk, read a book, or take a shower. And sometimes, I have to sit outside a bedroom door and be the nap-nazi, forcing Lucia to stay in. 

 

[Here she is again, the sweet thing. No, my dear. You will be happier after your nap. Back under the covers you go with your Minnie Mouse and your binky.]

Here is the best part. I get to do all these things as a partner with my cute daughter and her husband, Lucia’s parents. I get to see what patient and good parents they are. I see them taking time to color with Lucia, to play with her, and to teach her. I see them never ever losing their tempers. I see the way Mary and Krystian work together to parent Lucia with intentionality and love. I see the way they both are always considerate of me, making sure they do not ask too much of me. I see the way they are always so grateful for any help I give.

 

And here is the absolute best part. In just a few weeks, we will have another little one in our home. Mary will give birth in just a few weeks. What a sweet blessing it will be to have a tiny little newborn in our home again!

 

Eventually, Mary and Krystian will indeed go home. As the Covid restrictions lift, they will need to return to face-to-face work and to their lives far away from us. 

 

[By the way, it’s been quite a while since the last attempted jail-break; maybe she is sleeping. Or maybe she is wreaking havoc, very quietly, in the bedroom.]

 

But, for now--oh, what a precious time.