With a two year old, you’re always a lap behind!

It was one of those weekends longed for by grandparents… a whole two nights and two days with a two year old. (yes, I’m serious)

Preparation includes totally clearing your calendar.

And that was the thrill for me last weekend when 32 month Harper came to stay. An anniversary weekend away for kid three; and a thrilled 48 hours (or so) for Gramma D. Vecpapa (loving grandfather name for my first husband) was also away on a television gig in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

So it was Harper, Gramma D, and Darla the dog.

Words tumble out of this little one and full sentences with the interpretation offered only by a small person who’s seeing the world through the eyes of wonderment. I found myself mentally running to catch up.  A lot.

We did all the usual things, of course… playing with the stack of toys tucked behind the chair in the living room, playing in the kid-sized kitchen downstairs.  But it’s important to add something novel, too.  We went to Beaches Restaurant for 45 minutes to hear the music of the remarkable Marlon Gibbons and enjoy a dish of ‘white’ ice cream.  A beautifully set table, with candle-light and linen… memorable indeed for a little girl and her Gramma.  [At this point I digress… Wyona Wilcox, former secretary to Mayor Ross Archer was celebrating her 94th birthday at Beaches… what a remarkable woman and a treasure when she anchored the mayor’s office in the old city hall! Happy Birthday, Wyona!]  Back to baby…

When we got home, we took a flashlight and she jumped on her trike and we rode around the block IN THE DARK. We enjoyed soup and pancakes and toast and books and curling up in bed in front of TVO.

But much of the time Harper was on the hunt for her H. Learning her letters, she knows H is her letter and she finds it everywhere. There’s an H on a street name! Gramma, there’s my H! There’s an H on the licence plate on the back of a truck. Gramma, there’s my H!  You name it, she can find HER H!

The biggest puzzle of the weekend (for me, not for her) was the chatter about her mommy and daddy, Bryn and Adam.

“My daddy has a triangle,” she said. A triangle, I thought. Well, he’s in construction so maybe it’s a levelling tool, I mused. “Yup,” I said, safely.

“He has a triangle and a stick!” she continued. “Yup,” I said, keeping it safe.

We were in the car, coming home from the Family Expo down in Innisfil. We passed the sign for Barrie.  She shrieked… “there’s my daddy’s A, there’s my daddy’s A!”

Right.  You are so right.  And right beside it, for B arrie is your mommy’s B, I countered.

We drove on.  And then it sank in.  A triangle and a stick.  A.  Good thing she’s leading me along here.

I wonder what else I’ve missed?