This and That

There is freezing rain today and the trees are wearing a thin coat of ice. It looks beautiful. It will turn to rain soon, but right now I am enjoying the glistening branches. With my daughter, I am taking my granddaughter to the dance school this afternoon and signing her up for ballet, jazz and gymnastics class today. How do they get all that in just an hour lesson? I think she will love it and it will channel her exuberant energy in a useful direction. Izzy loves music and loves to move, so it should be a good combination.

I look at Izzy and I am instantly filled with joy. I think granddaughters are the greatest thing ever invented. She delights me in every way. She is hilarious, she is incredibly deep, she is a goof, she bounces off of the walls with all of her energy, she is very loving, she is very sweet, and very girlie, she loves music and sings raucous songs, she shakes her butt when she is delighted by music and she does a cheesecake pose sticking out her butt. Words really can't describe how special she is. And yet I know she is no more special than any other three year old, they are all special and all the same. However, to me she is the most wonderful child in the entire world and I love her very much.

Looking back over the last three and almost a half years, I am struck by how much joy I have in my life and almost all of it is because of Iz. I saw her when she was just 15 minutes old. I took her tiny hand and held it and my heart was broken opened. Over the next months she grew and thrived, she had an ear infections that went undetected for a bit and we all thought she was a crier, but once the pediatrician discovered the infection and treated it she has been a delight. Her natural response is laughter. The kid is fearless in her pursuit of fun. When she was about five months old she felt her first piece of paper, it was love at first sight. She made such a funny little face, puckering up her lips as she touched the paper. She crinkled it and ripped, all the while concentrating very hard making this little mouth. She played with the paper for a good hour, never tiring of it. Today if she finds something new and unusual that she is exploring she still makes the same mouth.

Izzy has discovered curse words and we have great fun being bad and saying them. She laughs and laughs. Sometimes she makes up her own. "Oh, you're a dope and a shit noogie and you smell like dog butts." After she says it she always says something that sounds and awful like Homer Simpson's "Doh!" And then laughs and laughs. "Damn it! - Doh!" "Bitch - Doh!"

I love that kid!

This is how life is meant to be lived, watching your children grow and then playing with their children. All it is is simple joy. Life really is good.