“Perfect love sometimes does not come until grandchildren are born.” -Welsh Proverb
When Cecile and I babysit Lyla a warm glow of satisfaction and joy pervades our body, mind and soul. We are grateful for the reminder that life isn’t just about work, projects, deadlines, and schedules. There is nothing like seeing the world in a simple way though the eyes of a child.
For Lyla’s birthday gift, our daughter Michelle and her husband Kyle bought her own little kitchen appliances to accompany her own little table and chairs where she sits when she doesn’t feel like sitting in her highchair. She got a fridge, freezer, sink, microwave, oven, tea set, utensils and a full assortment of pretend labeled food items like waffles, ketchup, mustard, yogurt, turkey, Swiss cheese, fresh orange juice, milk, etc.
Having baked with Nonnie (Cecile) before, she was in seventh heaven to have her own little model kitchen and was busy as a bee. She ran the show like an executive chef, and we were her sous chefs. There was even a pretend model cell phone with its own slot, and she was pretending to talk to Elmo from Sesame Street. She even pretended to call me on the phone, saying, “Hi Papa."
Cecile made her lunch, and put her down for a nap while Michelle and Kyle worked on their laptops to bring home the bacon, so to speak. When she awoke she was raring to go again. “Play!” she said.
We surprised her with an outdoor play set for her birthday, similar to what we had at our old home when our kids Jason and Michelle were young. Lyla was so excited. After climbing on top of the play structure with a little help from Kyle, she slid down the sliding pond several times, and after each time she would repeat the words, “More again!”
After she had her fill she asked me to take her to feed the next door friends (Kayvon and Bahnaz’s) full-grown flightless French ducks that she has known since they were ducklings.
We then lit a candle and inserted it on top of a cupcake, and after we all sang Happy Birthday to her she blew out the candle with great joy.
Postscript: Some of the photos were taken at the Magical Bridge Playground at Red Morton Community Park, a world renowned concept first developed in Palo Alto and made its’ debut in Redwood City on December 1. The nearly 1-acre Playground was developed at the cost of $6.8 million with $3.3 million coming from the fundraising efforts by the Magical Bridge Foundation that includes donors like The Chang Zuckerberg Initiative.
