Our first grandchild was born on March 5! It was an emergency cesarean section and he was a month early. But, both he and our daughter-in-law are doing well. We are so blessed that everything turned out okay. And, he is a beautiful baby!

When I was a young girl, I played being a ‘grandmother.’ Most girls play at being a mother . . . So, I have looked forward to the time that I can have grandchildren. And, that time has finally arrived!

Our son and his wife have a blog so that they can keep the family posted on how Spencer is doing. When I read it tonight, I laughed and laughed and laughed! The title was ‘Who’s Yer Daddy?’ Then they had these pictures posted:

This is Spencer after having a bath and having his hair washed. He looks an awful lot like his Uncle Tyler (our son) — except Tyler’s hair was white! It seems that Spencer didn’t like his bath. Typical little boy . . .

Welcome to the family, Spencer!!
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I recently read an article about the characteristics and qualities of grandmothers. I think it must have been an ancient article — written in a previous millennium. At least 30 or 40 years ago. Certainly NOT within the last year!

The article claimed that all grandmothers canned hundreds of quarts of fruits and vegetables, had a house full of lush green plants, had silver white hair, and made hand-made quilts. That certainly described my grandmothers (minus the lush house plants). But it certainly does not describe me. But then I guess that’s okay because I won’t be a grandmother until April! Nor does it describe many of my peers who are already grandmothers!

I think that being a grandmother in this new millennium will be vastly different than in the last 30 years. Here’s what I predict that a modern day grandmother will be like — or IS like. Her pantry shelf will be filled with canned goods that she purchased at the local grocery store. Gone is her gray hair thanks to Miss Clairol, L’Oreal, or Revlon. No more cotton house dresses covered with aprons and no more white anklet socks and gum soled shoes. She shops at The Gap or Old Navy or Nordstrom’s. Lush houseplants are replaced with silk ones. Handmade quilts give way to electric blankets. Instead of wielding a dust cloth, she’ll be carrying a day planner and a cell phone.

The new millennium grandmother will probably still be working at her career. Or possibly be off on humanitarian jaunts to Ecuador. Her children and grandchildren will not live across the street nor reside in the same town. They will be across the country or on another continent half way around the world.

If you have to be a grandmother ‘from a distance’ because your grandchildren do not live within driving distance, find ways to technologically connect with your grandchildren. An easy way is to establish an online photo gallery. One that is particularly popular is Flickr.com. On Flickr, you can set up a free account where you can upload pictures. You can have a private photo gallery that is open only for family members’ viewing.

What, you say, you’re not technologically savvy? Not to worry. ‘Tis as easy as pie. Just follow the directions on the web page. Or, better yet, have one of your kids set it up. Then, encourage your children to upload pictures of your grandchildren. Then, upload pictures of you and your husband (a.k.a. grandma and grandpa) so that your grandchildren can see pictures of things that you are doing in your life as you see what’s happening in theirs.

Pictures are worth a thousand words. And online pictures are an easy way to ‘virtually’ see your grandchildren who live way far over the river and through the woods and share in their day-to-day activities or special events.

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One of my friends is an English teacher. (Actually, I have MANY friends that are English teachers!!) But this particular one shared with me what she does when a grandchild has a birthday.

On their birthday, she takes them to the local bookstore. They browse through the age appropriate books and then (under her wise guidance and tutelage) she lets them select 5 books. After she purchases the books, they head out to a local eatery of the grandchild’s choice and have lunch. Just the two of them. What a great way to celebrate a birthday!

The other day I read that the week before Thanksgiving is National Children’s Book Week. What a great time to share this birthday idea and to encourage grandparents everywhere to find ways to instill a love of books and a love for reading with their grandchildren.

I read Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech to our kids as we were driving home from a vacation. (It was the Newbery Medal winner in 1995.) We still had several pages left to read when we pulled into the garage. We scurried out of the car to the patio so that I could finish reading the book to the kids. When we were finished, we went back to the car and started unloading it.

Walk Two Moons is a story about thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle whose mother has disappeared. Sal sets across the United States with her Grams and Gramps in an effort to find her mother. She entertains her grandparents with stories of her friend, Phoebe, who sees “lunatics” around every corner. During this pilgrimage, everyone’s “story” is told — stories that are humorous and poignant.

This would be a great gift to give a pre-adolescent girl. It would be a great book to read to a granddaughter as she stayed overnight on a week-end. It would be a great book to discuss with a granddaughter. It’s just plain down and out a great book! (You know, my sons enjoyed the book just as much as my daughter did. So don’t hesitate to share it with boys, too.)

If you have any ideas about celebrating a grandchild’s birthday, please feel free to share it here!

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I love cookie cutters. I have a weakness for them. Can’t hardly pass them by in a store without stopping and looking at them. Invariably, one or two jump into my shopping cart. Don’t ya just hate it when that happens??

Needless to say, I have a rather large collection of cookie cutters. I have the normal ones like circles, stars, hearts, and diamonds. Ones for holidays (Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving.) I have some that are music notes, letters in the alphabet, a lion, a shamrock, a strawberry, a rocking horse, a gingerbread man, a birthday cake, a train, a teddy bear, a camel, a pig, a snowman, and a couple of horses to name a few. Whew!

Of course you can use cookie cutters for the normal cookie making activities. (Check out my post Fabulous Sugar Cookies for a great sugar cookie recipe.) Instead of letting all of your great cookie cutters gather dust in your kitchen drawer between uses at holiday times, there are several other things that you can do with them.

First, use them to make fun shaped sandwiches. We all know that children don’t particularly like the crust of their sandwiches. So, if you’re going to cut the crust off anyway, might as well make the sandwich a fun shape by cutting the bread with a cookie cutter. If you are using lunch meat, cut the lunch meat in the same shape. This adds a wee bit o’ fun to lunchtime . . . and lots of bread crusts to turn into homemade croûtons or stuffing for Thanksgiving.

You can also make Jell-O Jigglers. Use your cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes in the Jell-O and serve them with your sandwiches! Here are some directions for making the jigglers:

Get 2 large boxes of Jell-O. Stir in 2 1/2 cups boiling water. DO NOT ADD COLD WATER! Dissolve completely. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch pan. Chill at least 3 hours. To cut Jigglers, dip bottom of pan in warm water for 15 seconds to loosen gelatin. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Lift from the pan with your fingers or a spatula. (For easier removing, lightly coat the pan with cooking spray before pouring in gelatin mixture.)

Another idea is to make Jell-O Jigglers. Then, set addition Jell-O in a 9 x 13 pan made in the traditional way with cold water. When that is set, spread Cool
Whip over the Jell-O. Then, cut out the Jell-O Jigglers and decorate the top of the whipped topping with the Jigglers cut outs.

Then of course EVERYBODY who is ANYBODY knows to use cookie cutters with Play Dough.

A variation on the theme of using cookie cutters is to get a bread press. You use it to press a design into a piece of bread. And when you toast the bread, the design becomes visible. This is a fun thing to do for breakfast or for toasted sandwiches for lunch. Here’s a picture of a bread press that I have. (Click on it to see a larger version.