And it's December(and it's cold in the US)

I last posted in September. And it's December-how can that be? The photo is in the US, not Chile-it is summer here!

The end of September, I flew back to the US to visit my son and his wife and their adorable and intelligent little girl-my granddaughter. It was unbelievably nice. There was an October wedding(that was everything a wedding should be) and early snow. Followed by a later October storm and a huge snowstorm. I was snowed in with my granddaughter and we had such a good time watching Elmo and sesame street and Disney classic movies. We ate grapes and cookies.

Not long before the storm, we swept leaves off the back deck and examined them and when the breeze made the leaves rustle on the trees, I said "listen to the leaves" and cupped my ear. And she did too. After that, she was the one to look at me and say "leaves." And she cupped her ear.

We played Hide and Seek although she is not quite two. I would count so she could hide and I'd look down to see this little person counting below me, face and arms against the wall, copying me! Eventually, we learned the basic game and she would run to find me and I would look for her. I always hid behind one of three doors and she soon learned the three places to look. At one one point, I decided to make it more difficult and hid on the other side of a door. She walked up and down the hallway, calling "grandma, where are you?" in her little voice and my heart melted-again.

I felt a little like chocolate chip cookies are contraband as my son and his wife are very health conscious(a good thing). But really, there is nothing that replaces a cookie! I gave JJ a cookie once while they were out and forgot to scrub the chocolate evidence from her face(uh oh!) They laughed and I bought chocolate covered grahams which are even worse(chocolate face wise).

We ate lunch and dinner together many times and I, in an effort to encourage her intake of food other than grapes(which she loves) did the airplane game-the age old practice of moving the forkful of food around and around while making "airplane sounds". She thought it a wonderful game and did it herself with motions and sounds and a big smile, at which time I had to convince her to eat one herself, followed by feeding Grandma. That seemed fair to her.

After the snowstorm, a trip to the zoo followed as the nice weather returned. Of course, there is nothing like a trip to the zoo with a little person. JJ says "look at that", "right there"(or here) and "wait, wait' on a regular basis and her voice is like a song to me.

We became such friends and playmates and I carried her as we walked in the airport, holding her as she looked at me as though it were any other day. Just as I entered the maze of security, I heard her say "wait, wait" as though she had realized it was different after all. And that is the voice I hear over and over. "Wait, wait". And I couldn't.