The End of Summer - Friday

This week has been a week of times remembered and I decided today's post would be the last for this week. That is because today was a day of firsts - not lasts.

Today was Paige's first day of preschool for the next school year, still a phase in day, but a real day. Monday was visitation but today they followed a schedule. And upon picking her up the teacher handed me a note. On it the teacher had written Paige's response to what she liked most about the day and it was the playground!

No surprise there. Paige loves being outdoors and playing. But she also has a wonderful gift of imagination and can play indoors just as happily. This is a good thing as she spent the entire afternoon inside "working" at the store with me. Six hours she entertained me and I entertained her and when we had customers, she rang them up and helped me behind the counter.

Although we had set up the back room with the TV, games, books, play-doh, and lots of snack food, it was her Dora backpack filled with goodies that kept us both occupied the most. Her favorite activity the whole day with me was to create games for me to play and for me to make treasure hunts for her to go on.

Paige had a clip board and pen and I gave her ten steps to take and at the end of each step she would find a treasure which I had hidden (in plain view). She would "read" each step with me where some of the words were pictures and others numbers that she recognized so that she was able to follow the step without any problem. She enjoyed the treasure hunt so much that she pretended to write one for me and hid objects all over the store and "walked" me through it just as I did her. It was remarkable to see my little four year old granddaughter appear so grown up.

But the activity that really got to me was the one she invented. She had a whistle and she said she was the "conductor" and that she would count to three, blow the whistle and I was to toss the LIG dog ball into bucket. The bucket she created by standing the shirt folder up on its sides so that it created a tube. She first placed it about fifteen feet from me and I was so poor at getting the ball into the tube, she moved it closer (without telling me.) I moved it back and she said I was cheating. I said she was being too kind making it close to me so I could get it in.

Every time I made the bucket she would turn and write down something on her clip board. At one time I asked her if I could have a second chance and she said, "Girl you had all the chances I'm going to give you!"

When it was time to close the store, she insisted on turning out all the lights and taking down the OPEN sign. She was tired and I was tired and we drove home thinking about the homemade pizza we planned for dinner and the sleepover she was going to have with us. And then came the final first for the day. She asked to go home after dinner. She did not want to stay with us overnight.

She backed out of sleeping over at her other grandparents last week, so we were not surprised. It is just a phase. So after dinner we loaded up the car and drove down the mountain and met her mommy in the Bi-Lo parking lot as she was on her way home from her company golf tournament which she helped organize. Paige was so happy to see her mommy.

I was reminded of all the times I spent the night out at my grandparent's house while growing up and what a wonderful feeling it was to come home the next day and see my parents. And I do remember a time or two changing my mind and someone coming to get me. I didn't love my grandparents any less, I just wanted to be home.

Just as Paige is growing up and experiencing a lot of firsts these days, I too must grow along with her. I just have to be patient and know that she will always love her Mimi as much as I love her.