Wednesday Cheese

I spend Wednesdays in Franklin with Rebecca and the boys. Rebecca teaches a math class in the morning while I play with Joshua and Andrew. Then we all have lunch together. And I get to spend some time with Rebecca while the boys take their naps. I love Wednesdays.

I haven't written a grandma post in a while, so I thought I would share these pictures and tell you a bit about my unique grandsons. They are quite the individuals and only seem alike in their ability to assert themselves.

Andrew is almost 19 months old. All you have to do is hold up the camera and he says "cheese."Joshua (34 months), on the other hand, looks annoyed every time Grandma Shari goes for the camera.

Andrew cheerfully poses with his cookie...And Joshua is telling me in these two pictures, "I don't want you to take my picture, Grandma Shari." Since I'm taking his picture anyway, he has to assert himself a bit more in this one...

Joshua went from calling me nothing to calling me Grandma Shari. Although it did sound more like Mama Shari at first. But that was very brief. Joshua never did baby talk. He seemed like a little man from an early age. Andrew has been our cuddly, baby-talking, real life cabbage patch doll. He hears Joshua call me Grandma Shari and he tries to say Shari. But it doesn't sound like Shari. When he sees me, he says, "Sissy." (Or sometimes Shishy.) It is so cute. Now that I have a cute nickname, I really don't want him to graduate to saying it right. I like it the way he says it.

We thought Andrew was going to be so mellow and laid back. He was for a long time. But not anymore. I think he will eventually dominate physically. Joshua loves books and he memorizes them. I was lying on his bed and reading to him this week before his nap. I was getting sleepy reading without my glasses. Not to mention, the words were a little blurry without my glasses. You figure a kid who can't read won't know if you occasionally say the wrong word. Ha! I was reading a story to him about a fox that is preparing to eat a little pig and the pig manipulates the fox into feeding him, giving him a bath and a massage (can't remember what else). But at one point I read that the little pig was the fattest pig in the country. And Joshua quickly corrected me, "No, no, no, Grandma Shari! In the COUNTY!" I just cracked up.

When I arrive on Wednesdays, Joshua tells Rebecca she can leave. "You leave now, Mommy. I'm

going to stay here with Grandma Shari." And then when she leaves, he shows me where she keeps the cookies and the movies he wants to watch. He's got life all figured out. And they both have Grandma Shari wrapped around their little fingers (as long as they ask nicely). Grandma Shari doesn't do anything when she is ordered to do it. And they will both learn that about me, just as my nephews and nieces did. I'm very thankful for the time I get to spend with Joshua and Andrew. I'm also very thankful for my relationship with their mommy and thankful that she wants me around! I know not all mothers-in-law are so fortunate.

By the way, I just found out that I am going to be an aunt to another nephew this time. Chris and Cheryl's "Number Five" is a little boy. : ) According to the ultrasound, he is due on February 20. Aunt-Grandma Shari will be making lots of trips to White House AND Franklin this winter! Somebody is going to have to give Nikki some therapy when she is no longer the baby of the family. I should probably start re-reading my early childhood development books because Cheryl is going to have her hands full.