All That Remains

My grandson returned to his home in Trinidad today. He left the house too quiet, the space where he dropped his flip- flops when he came into the house too empty and two souvenir foot prints that I'm now reluctant to clean up. 

Oh, and lots of pizza boxes to recycle. That boy scarfed down pizza on every possible occasion in the month he visited!

   

I'm feeling melancholy already but so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to know and love him more in all his boy exuberance. 

Grow well and prosper, sweet prince!

Snippets

My grandson, as you know, is visiting me and my Honey here in Italy for a month. He's far from his home in the rain forest of Trinidad for the first time and is gobbling up this slice of life in our little corner of the world. Here are some snippets of his time so far.

He's learned some new games, like Sequence, that all of us enjoy:

and old ones that he's become better at, like Rummy Kub:

and introduced some new games to us, like Bakugan, Battle Brawlers, that go from this:

to this, thanks to magnets in the cards and clever design:

He, outside with our neighbors, watched the European Football (soccer) semis and finals wherein Italy beat Germany in the semis but lost to Spain in the finals. His t-shirt says Italia, much to our neighbor's delight:

He's a gamer and has higher speed access here than at home, much to his delight:

But this gamer also likes tea parties, much to his grandmother's delight. Our summer variation serves ice tea, home brewed on our balcony, rather than hot:

The days have been hot and dry so the beach nearby offers a welcome respite, to relax:

or to discharge some sheer boy exuberance:

Up to now, encouraged by my grandson, activities have been mostly close to home. Good way to start.

Single Grandparent of Small Boy Maturing By The Day

We returned from our vacation in FL accompanied by our grandson, age 10 next month. This is his first extended excursion away from his family so this month-long visit is a grand adventure for us all. After a few difficult days of missing his family, especially his Mom, and adjusting to a new time zone he's now off expanding his horizons in this land were kids speak a language not his own. My Honey is gone for five days on business so I'm a single grandparent and felt daunted by the prospect.

Two boys upstairs in our apartment building became his first playmates and he's worked out some ways of negotiating the language hurdle. The older boy studies English at school and can do fine if speech is slow. The younger one has very little English so when playing games on their iPads they downloaded a translation app to talk back and forth. Good idea!

Yesterday we went to a beach with plenty of kids but no English speakers. My grandson, on his own, came up with a few clever ways to engage and end up playing with the locals. He was flying his uber cool bat kite and, when other kids looked interested, he helped them fly it as well. A steady light breeze off the water made it easy. But the kayak rides topped that. He reveled for awhile in being captain of his own boat and, after paddling around himself, he soon drew other eager young sailors for guided rides, either pulled along or as passengers.  No surf in the Adriatic and shallow waters even 30 feet from shore makes it possible and safe. And later, his pump action squirt guns scored big with the boys his age.

We had a grand day topped off with pizza and his other favorite local dish, arrosticini, at a restaurant with a play area. As soon as he headed over to play, a boy joined him for see-saw rides and swing competitions with accompanying hoots.  Can you tell he didn't want to take time out for photos?

He stepped cautiously, even reluctantly, at first but now I watch his confidence grow, his stride surer as he succeeds. Our neighbor and friend next door introduced my grandson to a boy who lives just one street over and who wants to practice his fledgeling English. My grandson came back from a visit to his house breathless: "I met his family and his mother invited me to come for pizza tomorrow evening the very first time she met me. Wow!"

As he told his mother on Skype later: "I'm really expanding my social network!" Indeed he is. I'm proud of him but more importantly, he's proud of himself.

Square Poem About My Grandson (Who's Cute as a Button)

Grandson   stands      across            the            room              filled

stands        future       lights             eyes          bright             within

across        lights       from              ancestors    generations    shine

the             eyes       ancestors        dreamed      embodied      now

room         bright     generations     embodied     in                  him

filled         within     shine               now            him               alight


I would write the poem like this:


Grandson stands across the room, filled,

stands, future lights eyes bright within,

across lights from ancestors generations shine,

the eyes ancestors dreamed embodied now,

room bright, generations embodied in him

filled within, shine now, him alight.

This came in response to a prompt from dVerse Poets for a square poem, which has the same number of words as lines and reads the same across and down. Unfortunately, I missed the deadline by two hours since I have my grandson visiting me in Italy from Trinidad for the first time by himself and he keeps me busy. Plus it was a difficult type of poem to write. But todays prompt is button (hosted by Brian) and my grandson's cute as a button so I'll submit it under that guise and hope for latitude!

Scared Silly

The photo speaks for itself. My daughter, niece, grandson and I decided to brave the Rockin Roller Coaster in Disney's Hollywood Studio's Park that shot us forward at rocket speed, spun us upside down and all around while playing Arrowsmith in speakers by our ears. That was one wild ride!

The Vacation Begins

Daughter and grands landed, faces painted, hair braided, soccer game played (blow up ball), baggage cart ride, train shuttled, meal eaten and we hadn't even left the airport. Great start!

techno logical love

watch my grandson  it's pure
in him  the love of it all
cars buses trains planes computers especially
computers ipads cell phones pop up
games that capture him  his heart
at one with  in love with
techno logy  playing in it  lost in it  in it
i mean watch him play  talk to him  have him tell you every
detail like a lover who doesn't miss a thing  touches it all in awe who
takes it all in sifted through his mind  fingers  fast fingers  heart
it's his it's obvious it's his world from his dawn on
in ways i can't ever know because that's the thing about
love  techno logical love  it's logical for him
and for a moment for me when he comes with that love
spilling out of his eyes as he looks at me and wants to play
with me and shows me how and we play and i catch
that techno logical love  my heart beats a him
rhythm for a minute my eyes fill with his sights glimpse his world
a nano second of standing under which helps me
understand his techno logical
love and i have to say
yes to his yes of course his pure yes love


This came in response to the prompt: Machine Dreams by Chazinator in Meeting the Bar over at dVerse Poets Bar on this day of my grandson's great grandmother's birthday. She would have been so proud of him. As am I.