A Three Year Old's Observation
Grandmum,
you have lines on your face!
What did you say?
You have lines on your face! (Worried, pointing to some.)
Those are wrinkles. It is because I am old.
Oh.
When your Mom and Dad are old, after you have grown up,
They will have wrinkles, lines, too.
And when, a long, long time from now,
You will be old, and maybe, you will be someone’s grandmum,
You will have wrinkles.
Oh, okay.
The question answered,
We returned to playing with playdough
Making shapes, and spaghetti strings.
Janet E Smith
November 2013
“We
Don’t Eat These Eggs”
“We
don’t eat these eggs,”
These
are real eggs, from the re-frig-er-a-tor,
Not
toy eggs.
Mum
dips one into the pink water.
Grandmum
lifts an egg, now blue from a cup,
How
could a white egg become blue or pink or yellow?
Mum
cooked them on the stove, but they are not hot now,
So
we can touch them.
I
want to eat them – they are right here, in our hands.
But,
we cannot.
Grandmum
and Grandad might not know.
“We
don’t eat these eggs”,
reminding
myself, and them.
Grandmum
now has a red egg, I an orange.
I
put stickers on mine.
Grandmum
writes “Rebecca” in sparkles on the pink,
And
we put the eggs in our Easter baskets,
Smile
and clasp our hands, at the sight,
Jump
up and down,
Suddenly realizing why
We
don’t eat these eggs.
Janet
E Smith Written, April 1 to 11,
2013
Waiting, when you are two years, 3 months, old.
Always busy, moving about, exploring.
This morning – sitting on the couch,
Quiet, looking straight ahead.
“What are you doing?” asks Mum.
“I am waiting for Grandmum and Grandad”.
What is it to wait?
Like sitting down to concentrate
On how to chew gum for the first time,
What it feels like to keep chewing and to not swallow.
The “Oops” of forgetting and down it went.
When you chew it,
Gum does not disintegrate like food.
How odd to spit it out again, that does not seem quite right.
If you swallow it, does it stick to the side of your stomach
and stay there?
Mum said we have to wait for grandparents to visit.
How do you wait? It might help to concentrate,
Maybe time will pass faster and then,
maybe they will suddenly arrive at the door.
What IS two months? I understand it is not today or tomorrow
Or even Saturday when Mum and Dad are home from work.
What do I do about missing them?
Mom explains that waiting still happens while we are busy
Playing with friends, eating, and sleeping,
That each day brings their visit a little closer,
Will be one less day to wait.
Far away, Grandmum and Grandad also wait.
Janet E. Smith August 20, 2012
Rebecca at Two
A wagon can be pulled; and you can put a doll in it,
Or blocks. A doll could sleep or look around.
You can pour tea into cups; or onto the table.
You can drink the tea in cups, or from the table
Or watch it spread, and drip to the floor.
You can watch the cat next door; or watch wide-eyed
When Grandad pets the cat.
This moves Grandad further into the realm
Of amazing people.
You can find Mum or Dad and
Thus find security.
You can tell things to Grandmum; who used to be Ama.
As Grandmum, she still gives very good hugs.
Rebecca at twenty months
“Ama, Andad! Phone! Computer!”
Her Mom dials the phone, finds Skype on the computer
And as we say “Hello”, we hear in the background,
“Ama! Andad!” and soon we all see one another on the computer.
A little girl jumps up and down, smiling.
Her Mom says it is nice to phone us; we are always
happy to talk with this little girl and she with us.
I secretly think her mom is as happy to talk with us, too.
We learn that the moon is in the sky,
She is all eyes about the bunny in our yard.
When she hears Andad’s banjo,
She is all ears, and asks for songs.
We sing a few nursery rhymes,
Then pretend kisses, and hear a very shy,
“I love you, Ama”, “I love you, Andad”.
“We love you, Rebecca. We love you, Rebecca’s Mom,
and thanks for this”.
We all return to our regular day.
Janet E. Smith January 20, 2012
Baby Story
You have a voice
As deep and strong as Grandad’s
But you do not sing “Twinkle, Twinkle” like Dad or whistle it like Grandad.
You do not sing the cheerful songs of Mom or the lullabies of Grandmum.
You sit until I tap and your voice vibrates right through my arm.
You, no head, arms, legs, yet almost as large as me.
Here I sit, beside you.
You have not moved, only spoken, drum.
I think you are alive with such a voice as yours.
I worry that you might hurt me.
Two months later
Why you are much smaller than I!
And you never speak unless I tap you,
You are just a toy!
Yet, I leave my hand upon your skin and I feel vibrations
Like Mommy’s voice when my ear is next to her.
Janet E. Smith January, 2011
Almost Born
You feel
as you stretch
Your arms and legs
In your Mommy cocoon.
You hear
your Mum’s heartbeat
Her voice in lullaby to you,
Then saying, worrying, laughing,
Even crying.
You hear
through the wall, the clanking
Sounds of kitchen,
Noise of television, traffic
Discussions of Mum and Dad, their friends.
You love
your Mum, who holds you close
Who helps you, as you enter with trust and wonder,
Into this world.
Who are you ?
You with a will and a love
So strong, ready to begin
To speak
with all of us?
Janet E. Smith, April , 2010
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