25 Lessons

How many of you have had the opportunity to learn wondrous mysteries from a three-year-old boy?  Well, let me tell you about the lessons I recently learned from my nephew, Grant, when he blessed me with a visit. 

My sister had some errands to run and needed a babysitter, so I was quick to jump at the chance to keep her younger son, Grant.  Grant is 3-1/2, and he’s ALL BOY!  Lesson #1:  Being the mother of three girls does not prepare you for a nephew.  I don’t care how tom-boy my girls were, it’s just not the same.

Nikki and I planned a place and time to meet, and as I pulled into the parking lot, I was immediately drawn to the cute little boy smiling from ear to ear, waving out his window at my truck.  I must admit, the moment I saw his precious smile and read his little lips mouth the words “There’s Aunt Sandy!” I fell hook, line, and sinker into those deep brown eyes.  Lesson #2:  surroundings melt away to nothingness when Grant speaks my name. 

As I loaded my little buddy and his various items into my truck, he started with the “Bye Mom” farewells.  Of course, being women, my sister and I stood and talked for a bit, increasing our volume now and again to hear one another over the echoes of “BYE MOM!” that seemed to get louder with each passing moment.  I couldn’t help but notice the little guy breathe a sigh of relief when we finally said our goodbyes and my truck started moving.  Lesson #3:  Patience is a virtue.

It was nearing lunch time, so I asked Grant what he wanted to eat.  “Hmmmm….” he pondered, “how about macawoni?”  Oh boy, that was THE one thing I wasn’t prepared for, so I made a quick phone call home to see if we had any.  Girl 2 answered the phone and went to investigate.  “Yeah mom, we have two microwaveable dishes of macaroni, I’ll fix it for him.”  Not thinking, I replied “Oh, the frozen kind?”  Now I really should have known better than to voice this aloud.  I had forgotten that little ears hear everything, and the mouth that goes along with those particular little ears only likes macaroni that comes from a blue box.  The moment I hung up the phone, Grant accosted me with his questioning. “Your macawoni is fwozen?”  Oops. When I told him yes, he continued, “Is it wegular macawoni?”  Oh boy.  My second yes was followed by, “Is it yellow?”  Yes again, then wait for it…wait for it…wait for it…he must have been thinking pretty hard about that one, because it took him a while to ponder it before he finally said “Okay, I’ll twy it.”  Whew! He had me worried there for a minute! Lesson #4:  Never have a Grant-day without blue box macaroni.

We had only driven a short distance when Grant said “Aunt Sandy, you dwive fast.”  This is not necessarily something I didn’t already know, but he pressed on, “Aunt Sandy, WHY do you dwive fast?”  I told him it was because Hataw drives fast.  (Hataw is the name he affectionately uses for my mother, Grandma Nita.)  Grant started shaking his head and said “No, Aunt Sandy, Hataw dwives sloooooooow.” (Oh really?!  Lesson #5, though I must disagree with his assessment of my mother’s driving.) Then he continued, “Hataw says Pawpaw dwives sloooooooow, but Pawpaw goes VROOM!” (Lesson #6, though everyone knows it cannot possibly be true, because my dad couldn’t drive 5 mph over the speed limit if his life depended on it.)  During that same little conversation I also learned Lessons #7 and #8:  Daddy drives fast, and Mommy drives sloooooooow.

As we exited the interstate and approached the stop sign, Grant hollered “Aunt Sandy, look!  It’s a pony!”  It was indeed a pony, so I pulled the truck over and we sat watching the pony for a few seconds before he informed me with a sad whine, “Aw, I think he’s lost.”  I had no idea what possessed him to think this, so I asked him why he thought the pony was lost.  His response: “Because.”  Lesson #9: don’t ask silly questions. 

We stayed there for a while watching the poor lost pony, then made our way home.  I told Grant that our horses were waiting for him at the end of our driveway, and when we rounded the corner, I stopped and rolled down his window to give him a better look.  “It’s Harley!” He shouted, “HI HARLEY!”  Harley’s ears perked, and he looked up from his grass-eating to see who was there.  Grant cackled, “Aunt Sandy, Harley looked at me!  And...and…and he waved at me too!”  Lesson #10:  horses can wave.  

Before we went into the house to eat lunch, we had to go through the barn lot and greet all of the other horses.  This is where Grant taught me Lessons 11 through 15: horses have long necks, horses have mommies, Grant’s mommy does not have a long neck, Grant’s mommy has a heart beat, and the doctor had to listen to Mommy’s heart beat.  (Don’t you just LOVE the random circle of conversation you get with a 3-year-old?!)

On our way toward the house, Grant stopped dead in his tracks.  “SuuuWEET!” He shouted, and he ran toward the tire swing on the old ash tree.  “What’s sweet?” I asked him.  “Your swing is a TIRE!  Tires are COOL!”  Okay, add that to the “things Aunt Sandy learned today” list as #16.  He hung on as I pushed him in the tire swing, and that’s when I learned Lessons 17 through 21:  tires are for cars, Kyle Bush has a cool car, Kyle Bush is the best driver, Kyle Bush is cool, and Kyle Bush is Grant’s favorite.  When I finally admitted to Grant that I didn’t really like Kyle Bush, he taught me Lesson #22:  “Yes you do, Aunt Sandy, you like him lots!”  

After lunch (he ate about three bites of the macawoni, by the way) Grant wanted to ride Sugar-the-wonder-pony.  We made our way to the back lot and I explained to him that he should not touch the electric fence.  Of course, his immediate response was “Why?” so I explained that it would hurt him.  “Is it hot?” he asked.  I confirmed that it was, and he continued, “What’s that snap, snap?”  I explained it was the electric fence popping, and if he touched the fence, it would feel like the fence was biting him, and that’s when I learned Lesson #23.  It went something like this:  “OHhhhhh, that’s like that God story.”  (The what?)  “You know, Aunt Sandy, that God story.  When he had the nails in his hands, and God came down and went BAM and popped the nails out? Isn’t that cool? That’s the cool part!”  Not wanting the story to end I said, “yeah, that’s cool, then what happened?”  He looked at me and thought about it for a moment, then said “Well, his hands weren’t hot anymore, the end.” 

Now, Aunt Sandy really wasn’t ready for “the end” just yet, and anxious to hear his story again, I escorted him to the barn where Girl 2 helped us saddle up Sugar for a ride.  As Girl 2 led him around the arena, I asked Grant to tell her the story of the nails.  “I don’t remember,” he said.  “Oh sure you do,” I encouraged, “remember…his hands were hot?”  That’s when Girl 2 jumped in to help “oh wow, his hands were hot?”  Grant answered “Yeah…that’s not the cool part,  Emma.”  It was obvious I had just been taught Lesson #24:  when it’s old news, there’s no need to re-tell the story.  (I guess those cool parts are fleeting moments…I’m so glad I was there to capture it the first time around!)

Throughout the day we played…and we played…and we played some more.  Blocks, legos, Little Pig, Go Fish, Mancala, hide and seek…you name it, we played it.  When it came time to take Grant home, I took a look around my house.  What a MESS!  I asked Grant to help me pick up all of the toys.  “No thanks,” he said.  “You can do it.”  I persisted, “I really need your help, Grant, I don’t think I can do it by myself.”  He shook his head no, so I took another stab with a different kind of persuasion, “You know what, if I pick all of these up by myself, then I will be the winner…look at me go, I’m gonna win!  I’m gonna beat you!” and like a fool I ran through the house picking up toys.  He watched me for a moment, giggled,  then taught me Lesson #25:  “It’s okay, Aunt Sandy, you’re the best winner!” 

And with that sentiment, I had to agree.  I was the best winner, because on that very special day, I saw the world through a little boy’s eyes, and it was a great view!