An Ode to Nana

Shane loves visiting his Nana!


Twice a week, Nana watches Shane from the bright and early to the time Carrie gets off of work. If not for Nana, Carrie would either have had to quit her job, or we would be paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars a month in childcare. It's a huge help! My mom is great with kids and loves to see Shane each week.

The amount of energy Nana has for playing with Shane amazes me. She takes him from room to room in her house where she's set up different play stations of toys for him. She takes him for walks and to watch the school bus pick up the foster kids. She takes him out to swing in the backyard. Then there's the trampoline he likes to run around on while Nana's dog, Indy Anna runes around underneath him (Don't worry, it's a netted in trampoline and he's not jumping around). Nana treats Shane to a child's wonderland whenever he visits. I can only wish I had that sort of energy for my son. There's never a dull moment for the boy whenever he visits Nana, whereas I'm sometimes burnt out and too tired to be much fun for the boy. There's a lot I can learn from her.

One of the things I really like about Shane's visiting Nana is it's been great for introducing him to other children. It's almost been a year since Shane started going to Nana's, and at the time she was doing emergency foster care. There were some weeks where Shane would meet new friends and get to be around other kids instead of just around adults. For the past few months, my Mom has switched to long-term foster care and the three kids with her now all like to play with Shane. Joining a play-group isn't Carrie's style, and daycare was pricey, so I've been thrilled Shane's met so many other kids. He's going to the nursery at church every week now, but it all started at Nana's house.

Nana has been a huge help in finding toys, clothes, and books for Shane, as well. She's constantly shopping at garage and consignment sales and finds all sorts of treasures that somehow wind up in our home. Shane sometimes leaves our house in one outfit and comes home in an entirely new one (and not because he puked all over it either!). In particular I'm really thankful for the books. I never knew board books were so expensive! It only takes Shane a few minutes to wreck one too. For a while, I could recite every single one of Shane's books by memory to him. I've been so glad every time a new book finds its way home.

I feel very blessed that Nana is so willing to help with Shane. Recently, the little stink passed on the sickness that was going around our house to Nana. Her words? "It was worth getting sick, because I missed him." She's had laryngitis for a week since!

Anyway, I wanted to write more, but I'm already a little past my 10:00 Lent bedtime. I'll leave the post off here with a few words from my Mom to Jama about Shane's visit on Wednesday:

"I'm really hoping that Shane will nap good for me today so I can nap at least 30 minutes.  Shane and Indy play together so well.  They always want the same toy.  Right now they keep taking a top away from each other.  Shane loves for Indy to chase after him to get it.  Then Indy runs off with it and Shane finds her and takes it away again.  The foster kids absolutely adore Shane, so he enjoys that extra attention before we walk them to the bus stop.  We were the first ones at the bus stop today, so Indy and Shane were thrilled to have longer time there to see all the moms, kids and dogs.  Shane loves to see the school bus.  After that, Shane, Indy and I went for a walk.  It's a beautiful day.   Shane actually turned his VCR tape on this morning for the first time, but I think it was an accident.  I put on a Sesame Street video when I fed him his baby food.  Then the tape got to the end and automatically started rewinding.  I wasn't going to turn it back on, because I don't like for him to watch too much TV.  Shane walked over there and pushed buttons until he made it play again.  Fortunately, he's too busy running around taking the yoyo back and forth with Indy.  They are best friends.  Shane is so active that he's almost always moving.  He is such a happy baby."


Nana Idiosyncrasies:
1. Nana eats Shane's baby food. No lie! "Gerber is addictive!"
2. Nana's biggest fear for Shane is that he'll be too cold. He'll come home wearing two shirts, two pairs of pants, or two socks sometimes.
3. Nana is clearly a Southern girl at heart. When Shane was a real young'n, Carrie was concerned that Nana was patting Shane's back too hard. Nana's response: "What? You don't want him to grow up and be a sissy boy, do you?" Hahaha! I love my Mom!