A New Year and An Expanded Adventure

For the past year I have spent half of every week looking after my grand daughter.

People think my oldest daughter is lucky that I do this while I think I am the lucky one to be able to spend so much time with them and build a relationship with the little one.

Now my youngest daughter is heading back to work, after her maternity leave, and I've agreed to look after her one year old twins.

My husband has offered to come and help me.

Now he can share in the joy that I experience everyday with them.

A Dream Come True

Before we had grandchildren and we were dreaming of having them one day, my biggest dream was to have time to bake with them.

Today that dream became a reality.

The Little One and I baked for the first time.

It was great being side by side.  

Reading the recipe together.

Measuring, mashing and stirring the ingredients.

Plus tasting little samples.

She is very eager to try everything and lets me know when she has had enough and wants to go and play.

But when the timer went off she was racing back into the kitchen to take a look.

Not quite ready yet.

 

Finally the Banana Peanut Butter muffins and loaf are done.

Not the best picture but we sure enjoyed our baking.

Opa Brought a Train!

Opa came to visit last week and he brought a train.

 He carried the big bin into the back yard and started unpacking it.

The little one spotted the people 

and began to put them in the cars.

And out again.

Opa started laying the track under close supervision and looks like strong suggestions.

She was enthusiastic and a big help.

The track is together and out comes the train.  

Hook them together and watch them go.

 Time to play.  

Load the people on the cars then give the red caboose a little push.

Oh no! It was too hard of a push, the caboose derailed.

No worries, Opa is here to set it back on.

 Next came a lesson in operating the train.

She learned fast which button made the train noise.

As Opa operated, the little one explored the buildings.

In the afternoon we found a box and made a tunnel.

 

Then a few of her stuffed animals got to go for a ride.

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Playing with the Twins

 Our youngest daughter gave birth to twins in December and it has been wonderful to watch them grow.

 They borrowed some of the ideas that was used for our older grand daughter.

Like this PVC pipe stand to hang rattles, and such, to attract their attention, or accidentally hit and make noise.

We started reading books to them early too.

A mirror was set up for tummy time so they could look at themselves and each other.

And of course we sang lots of songs to them.

 And lately I introduced play trays.

Simple cookie sheets placed in front of them to hold items that may be easily grabbed.

At first they just looked at the items,

but as they developed more movement in their arms they brushed against the items and watched them move.

Items were added, like the tin foil plate, to add more sound when it was hit or moved.

As they continue to grow their coordination improves and they begin to grab some of the items.