Getting the old "stink eye" from mom

Today is the first birthday of my wonderful granddaughter. Elle has had one heck of a year. She went from this huge baby with a mega-head to a huge one year old with a mega-head. But that is to be expected because that head is chock full of important information. Like most babies she went from sleeping in mom and dad's room into her own bedroom. She went from just laying there in an all "help me because I can't do anything for myself" kind of way to a rather motivated young thing that army crawls, walks around furniture holding herself up, and totally captivates any room full of adults.

In short ... my granddaughter is better than yours. So there! Get over it!

And now she is one. She knows sign language for "more." Comes in handy when she's around her grandpa (that would be me) and he's feeding her straws full of Coke when her mom's back is turned. And today? Today she got her first true fix of chocolate! Her party had a real chocolate fountain. I waited until everybody had their back turned and then Elle and I creeped over to it. I only meant to get her close enough to it for her to go "wow!" mentally. But then her little hand shot out and before I could react it was in her mouth ... in her face ... and probably several other places that her mom is still discovering.


That is when I got the old "stink eye." I am absolutely amazed by the changes in my own daughter in the past year. She did not just mature into a mom. She grew up into an entirely new person. And I love it! I love what I see in her! She was once the perfect daughter. I mean seriously. If I could have designed my own daughter she would have looked just like the one God gave me. But now Kelli ... well, Kelli is also the most amazingly (nearly) perfect mother on top of it all. Sometimes I am in a room with the entire family and I know I should be looking at Elle. Everybody else is looking at Elle. She's what the story is all about these days. But I catch myself watching MY daughter ... Kelli ... and just going, "Wow. God, look what you did. This is truly amazing. Again... wow." Today was one of those days. I did not even mind the stink eye. Hey, I deserved it. I rather figured that I would get it if I got caught. And I knew the odds of my getting caught were in the high 90 percentile. But in order to introduce my Elle to chocolate it was worth the risk. And yes, it was worth getting caught. I'd do it again. Heck, I probably will!

Happy 1st birthday, baby Elle. You aren't really a baby anymore. You are officially a "toddler" I think. And you'll love toddling. It opens a whole new world! I'd be honored if you would let me explore it with you. Just think of all the trouble we can get into together!

And happy 1st anniversary of parenting, Kelli and Joe. You amaze me. No, I'm not really surprised. I knew you were exemplary people. But you have taken it to the ridiculous stage. And that is a very, very good thing.

Well Elle ... we've done the Coke thing. We've done the chocolate thing. Give me a whisper in the ear when you are ready to check out ... PIZZA!!!!

I love you. I like you. I would fight to the death for you. And now I want to sit back and enjoy the journey you are beginning through this always interesting thing called "life." Thanks for letting me be your grandpa. But not just your grandpa ... your "tick tock grandfather clock" grandpa. Don't worry. You and I know what that means and that is really all that matters.
Can't wait for tomorrow ... Grandpa