Through the Eyes of a “Grand” Child

One Saturday morning a few weeks ago, our daughter-in-law dropped off three of our grandchildren to spend the day with us.  As you can imagine, their energy came rushing through the door as soon as they arrived.

I was talking with my six-year-old granddaughter, Hallie, about what we would do that day, when I heard a loud squeal from four-year-old Nolan, who was standing in our center hallway.  It seemed there were rainbows everywhere and he was very excited about seeing them!

“Wook Grandma, wook at all the rainbows!”

Our front door has a sidelight with beveled lead glass on either side. On sunny mornings when the sun shines through the glass just right, it projects rainbows on our wall, our wood floor and on the carpet on our stairway.

I had scarcely noticed them many times, but that day I stopped and admired each one with Nolan. Such a simple thing and it brought him so much joy.

At Easter, when the other children were running to gather Easter eggs in the backyard, Nolan got sidetracked by a ladybug on one of our steppingstones.

“Grandma, wook at the ladybug!”

After the egg hunt, Nolan was eager to explore the backyard. He tried to climb the bottom branches of the crab apple tree, he made friends with the great-grandchildren who were visiting next door, he went underneath our giant Norway Spruce trees to explore, and he admired the bird nest on our pergola.  Inside the house, Nolan discovered the Roomba floor cleaner and excitedly asked if he could play with the “robot” and was delighted to follow its journey around the family room.

Before it was time for them to go home, Nolan asked if they could do a sea creature hunt. I have a bag of rubber sea creatures that I hide for the children to find. As his brother and sister scurried around outside trying to find as many as possible, Nolan found an alligator and was mesmerized by the squeaking sound it made when he squeezed it. He didn’t care how many sea creatures he found because he had found the one that was the most fun!

For Nolan, everything is new and exciting and fascinating. I want to see the world through his eyes with the same sense of wonder. I want to notice every detail and savor the moments like he does. Watching Nolan’s approach to life has been such a sweet reminder from a four-year-old.

During the past week since Easter, my eyes and heart have been wide open to the wonder around me. I’ve been noticing the rainbows on the floor in the mornings. Each day, I’ve smelled the Easter Lilly blooms, and I’ve gone outside to see if the mama bird is on the nest in our pergola. I’ve noticed the blossoms on our crab apple tree, the smell of the grass and the new growth on the Norway Spruce trees. One day, I walked underneath the Norway Spruce trees to explore. And last evening, I saw a ladybug on one of our patio chairs.