Grant At One

Grant hit the big ONE yesterday. That’s one as in one-year-old. My one and only grandchild took it in stride as the picture above indicates. His parents threw him a bash on Saturday for close family. He got a lot of nice birthday gifts as well as one in the “other” category—a Michigan State t-shirt that said “start ‘em young, raise ‘em right”—a gift from uncle Scott, himself a Spartan alumnus.

I don’t think he’ll be wearing that one much if at all. His father Greg is a big Michigan fan like myself.

As much as he enjoyed his presents, his cake and all the hoopla, Grant didn’t seem overly concerned with hitting his milestone. Or maybe he is proud of making it this far since one of his favorite gestures is showing everybody that he’s “so big.” Waving bye bye is something he’ll only do on occasion. He’ll clap too but copying a patty-cake demonstration draws a “what’s the point” expression.


Trying to get him to stand up and try walking also gets a “what for” attitude, especially since he can zip from room to room now on all fours. And though he jibber jabbers a lot, trying to make sense of it requires an expert in baby talk. Wendy and I did think we heard him say ‘grandpa.’ He is a lot more interested now in what I’m doing than he was at six months.

Wendy’s efforts to cuddle him like she used to in her recliner are often rebuffed as Grant squirms loose so he can get back on the floor. Right now, he’s a gotta go, gotta do kinda guy. Only when he’s tired will he give in and let Wendy rock him to sleep in her arms.

We usually get to see Grant up close and personal about once a week, which is just right for Wendy. Of course, lest we forget that Grant has a 'sibling', we have to entertain his canine brother Simon as well. And Simon refuses to be ignored, especially when we pull out the camera to take pictures of the little guy. Over comes Simon to pose too.


Grant and Simon get along as well as you expect brothers might. But it wasn’t that long ago that Grant was sitting in our kitchen when Simon became excited at the arrival of guests and began scurrying about the house. He bulled over Grant just like you might expect a linebacker might do to a quarterback in a football game.


Afterwards, Grant cried. Simon tried to make up with some kisses but our grandson didn’t look in a forgiving mood. I think he was thinking, “Dog slobber doesn’t always make it better.”