Summer Travels 2025 – Part One

The Netherlands
As a 90th birthday present, I gifted my mom a one-week trip in July to The Hague so she could hold her newest great-granddaughter, Luca and play with her first great-granddaughter, Aden, in her home.

It ended up being a perfect visit. When I think about what made it so perfect, a few things come to mind.

1. My sisiter-in-law agreed to come along. Having both of us at the airport with my mom, who needed to use the airport wheelchair service, came in handy. Having 2 sets of eyes and ears to get through checking luggage, security and waiting at the gate was so, so helpful.
2. Getting my mom a 10lb Acre Rolator walker. Before getting this, my mom used a cane and held onto me. Using this rolator, she stands better and walks better. She can sit right on it when she needs to rest. We got it a few months before the trip to get used to it. It folds so easily and the airport stored it on the plane during the flight. Then our AirB&B was literally around the corner from my daughter’s condo. My mom walked there easily each day, thanks to the rolator!
3. Uber! Because of this service, we got my mom to so many places.
   • From the airport to the my daughter’s condo. (And yes, the driver got all 3 of us, 3 suitcases, 3 backpacks and the rolator into his car!)
   • A 10-min ride to the beach to enjoy lunch at the North Sea in The Hague.
   • A 10-min ride to view The Girl with the Pearl Earring at the Mauritshuis in the center of town in The Hague.
   • To Amsterdam to spend one day enjoying this city!
4. Staying in an AirB&B apartment around the corner from my daughter! Having a kitchen to cook meals in and a larger dining table for all to gather around made it easy. My mom loves playing cards which we did and my girls wanted to belatedly celebrate her birthday which we did with candles added to Dutch Apple Pie and birthday crown! The outside patio was great for toddler play and staging a group photo.
5. My daughter Anne and her partner, Remi coming to town from France for the weekend. My mom loved catching up with both of her granddaughters!
6. A week with Aden and Luca! We all loved just having time to play with a 2 and half year old and a 8-month old. Pure Joy!

I know the Summer of 2025 will be remembered fondly because of this lovely trip!

Bluey Bandaid

“Mama, Bluey!” my granddaughter excitedly announced as she pointed to the box of bandaids on the table. The week before leaving to travel to them in The Netherlands, my daughter texted that it would be great if I could bring her some kid-friendly bandaid. “The ones here are the kind you have to cut down, which is annoying. And there are fewer with cute kid prints. We’d love for you to bring a variety pack or two as Aden is in her trip and skin knees era.” As a good Grandma, I filled the request and my purchase was sitting in the middle of the dining room table. Spotted for the first time by my two year old granddaughter.

“Aden, that is a box of Bluey bandaids.” Mama explained. “We’ll open it the next time you have a skinned knee.”

Aden then immediately lifted her left knee and pointed to a spot that was pinker than the rest of her leg, indicating an earlier boo-boo, now all healed.

Watching all this with my grandma eyes (and heart), I immediately popped out of my chair, grabbed the box and explained, “Sure, you can have one of the bandaids I brought for you!”

I opened the box, pulled out one, and carefully placed it on her healed old wound. Aden proudly stood. Then she limp away! Step, drag the leg with the bandaid. Step. The adults in the room bursted into laughter until tears started streaming down their faces.

I found the bandaid on the kitchen floor the morning after and recalled the toddler excitement and the adult laughter. Such a dramatic performance, all inspired by a Bluey bandaid!

“Gamma’s Turn”

Holding the orange-blue plastic first-scissors in her hand, she concentrates. With her right thumb placed in one opening, she moves another finger into the other opening. She watches as the long part of the scissors opens and closes. Then, with her left hand, she lifts the paper. With total focus, she moves her right hand and the movement causes the scissors to cut the paper’s edge. Her lips form a smile and she announces, “Gamma’s turn!” and hands me the scissors.

Following her lead, I place my left thumb and finger into the one end and practice opening and closing a few times. Then with my right hand, I grab the paper and make two cuts on the edge. I smile. I announce, “Aden’s turn!” and hand the scissors back to my granddaughter. We repeat “Gamma’s Turn / Aden’s Turn” for about the next 11 minutes, before her focus turns to another activity.

Her baby sister coos and wiggles from her play space a few steps away. Grabbing and taking bites of her toys occupies her focus.

It is Spring Break playtime at my granddaughter’s home.

Riding a Bike

Dear Aden,
Today I saw a photo of you on your first bike! You are at the park across the street from your home. Last October, I had such fun playing with you there after picking you up from daycare. You climbed up and slid down the slide. You let me push you on the swing. You watched the bigger boys playing soccer. And best of all, we picked up fall leaves, counted to three and threw them in the air. “Whee” we shouted, as they fell down on us!

Now today, you are riding your first bike at the park! You look so confident, holding the bike handles and touching the ground with both feet as you sit tall on the bike seat. I can’t wait to visit in April and watch you bike around your park!

When your mom was your age, we seemed to always be busy riding in the car to work or the store or the library. We didn’t take time to ride bikes. Definitely not when your mom was just 2 years old. But look at you today! You are riding your first bike in your park in The Hague, Netherlands. I’m ready to watch and shout “Voom, Voom! There goes Aden!” when I visit next month.

See you soon.
Love,
Grandma

Do-Re-Mi

Dear Aden,
I wonder if music will be a large part of your life?

The piano is a big part of my friend’s life. She even has a grand piano that fills what others would call the dining room space in her house. Once she wrote a story sharing how her granddaughter sat next to her on the piano bench as she played. Together, they enjoyed the music they made together while sitting in front of the piano keys. Yep, that won’t ever happen between us. I grew up in a house with an upright piano that sat in a space that also housed the washer and dryer. I never took formal lessons but did try to play a little. Your mom did take piano lessons from a kind lady who lived a block from school. On Tuesdays, I would sit in the car for 30-minutes during her lesson. Then, during the week, your mom would practice on the small keyboard we had in our home. I guess she could show you and teach you about playing music on a piano.

As for your dad, he uses his guitar to make music. From the photos and videos shared, I can tell he enjoys sharing this instrument with you. I see you, Aden, hold that long, heavy piece of mental with strings and used the pick to give it a try. Then I see the photos and video from your Saturday music class. You got to hold the tambourine, a violin and some jingle bells.

I wonder if music will continue to be a part of your life, Aden? I hope so.
It brings calm. It brings creativity. It is something people, like me, can consume happily.

Happy playing,
Grandma

Screenshot

Screenshot

Authoring Picture Books

My favorite app on my phone is called “Family Album”. It is a protected site where my daughter posts photos of her kids and her invited family members can view and add comments.

After Aden was born, I clicked on “store” within this app, chose “photobook” and easily was instructed to pick 22 photos. I got to pick the one to go on the cover. I soon learned that I can move chosen photos around to control the order. I can even add photo captions. Then in a a week of so (the printing happens in Japan), the book appears in my mailbox. It fits easily in my purse. I find it much easier to pull out and show my friends. And it is perfect to get a 2nd book for my mom to have and show her friends!

This week, two books were delivered to my house. I wanted Luca’s arrival to feel special so I made a book of ALL Luca!! Then I made a 2nd book of our lovely Christmas holiday spent with Aden and Luca and my girls and their partners.

Yesterday, the ALA awarded stickers to the best in children’s literature.
In my opinion, these books I am “writing” are sticker winners!!

Top Holiday Utterances

1. “WOW!” said by Aden when she saw the holiday lights when visiting my Delft Hotel.
2. “Grandma,” said by Aden as she pointed to me, after being asked, “Where’s Grandma?”
3. “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year” and “Happy Early Birthday, Anne” said by me, as my glass of Gluhwein clinged with the glasses of each of my daughters and their partners.

#Winterbreak2024

While I did not capture the moments of these utterances with photos, here’s a collage that reminds me of my magical Christmas week in the Netherlands, 2024. #bestfamilyever

What a 20-month year old sounds like!

Instead of Uh-oh….you say, “Oh my!”
Instead of fish…you say “vis”
Instead of no….you say, “ney”

You see the fast food restaurant sign, point at the chicken sandwich, and say “cluck, cluck”
You see the Spot book and matching stuffed animal and say “woof, woof”
You see your frog-shaped puzzle piece and say “kicker”

When asked if you are all done, you either reply “Ney”
or say “Yah” and hold up both hands and shake them.
When ask if you want to read a book, as if a programmed robot,
you stop, pivot, and walk to the bookcase.
When you hear, “Where’s Aden?”, you duck down low by the toy shelf, out of view.
Then you jump up with a smile, as you hear, “There she is!”

Currently, your favorite snack is eating a clementine.
Aden says, “Apple”
Grandma grabs her a clementine and hands it to her.
Aden replies, “Help. Peel.”
Grandma takes it back, peels it and places the orange sections in front of Aden.
Aden smiles, adding a section at a time to her mouth!
When all eaten up, Aden asks again. “Apple!”

*Aden lives in Den Haag, Netherlands where they speak Dutch at her daycare and her parents speak English to her at home. Not sure why she calls an orange, an apple!!

Mother’s Day, 2024

Every meeting at my school starts with an “inclusion activity”. Because I help lead the content and team leads monthly meeting, I have been having fun creating the opening meeting activity for this group. The purpose is to get all voices included and it also serves as an ice-breaker or a get-to-know-you exercise which helps us to build trust with our co-workers.

So why have I titled this blog post “Mother’s Day, 2024”?
Here’s the slide I made for my upcoming May meeting:

Yep! My little Aden sure has grown since Mother’s Days, 2023 when she was just 3 months old. Now, at 15th months, she would have LOTS to share with her table group, after reflecting, as the slide suggests. I suspect it could sound like this:

“I still fit on mom’s lap but now, I take up much more room. “

“I used to sit still for quite some time on mom’s lap. Not now! I’d rather crawl, climb and pull up to explore things at my standing height. And my newest trick is that I pull up and take steps all by myself!”

“Back then, not much came out of my mouth, except when I wanted food or a diaper change. Now, my mouth is always open. And, boy, do I have things to say! I can say ‘uh oh’, ‘da’, ‘ma’, and sure, I still cry out when I want stuff, like more blueberries.”

So much growth in a year! How about YOU? How have YOU grown this year?!

Here’s how Aden helped include all voices at our February and April meetings:

Thank you, Aden, for helping Grandma prepare quality teaching resources!

Passion Projects

Today in Reading 7 class, I presented my Passion Project after K shared his passion for photography, S shared her passion for Hikoya!, R shared his passion for the state of Massachuesetts, and before A shared about his passion for the footballer, R7, A shared about another footballer, Joao, and before L shared his passion for chips, which included a taste test!

I chose Aden as my Passion Project topic.The requirements were to include three subtopics, share 10-15 facts, include specific vocabulary and include images to support the facts. Click HERE to see my presentation.

Passion Projects are one of my favorite formats to use as a project because it gets kids reading and writing and creating and sharing on a topic of their choice! I had extra fun making one about Aden!!

NOTE: I’ve written about Passion Projects before HERE and HERE.