The Joys of Motherhood

Mae-Mae sleeping

I spent the day with my grandchildren, while my daughter, Carrie, went to the doctor and got two shots for her respiratory infection. "Mae-Mae", my little 8-month old granddaughter, is also suffering from a cold, but she didn't let it stop her from crawling all over the house and standing up next to the CD player, dancing to Justin Bieber's "Baby, Baby." It was simply hilarious.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the kids. First, my seven year old granddaughter, "Teka," had to have four teeth pulled. Her two front teeth had been loose for some time and we thought that surely they would fall out by Christmas. No such luck. Her two permanent teeth had already come up behind the baby teeth, so my daughter took her to the dentist. Because her baby teeth are so tiny, he recommended pulling all four of her  front teeth! Talk about traumatic...she cried and cried. After seeing the roots on those baby teeth, I wanted to cry, too! But all was better when the tooth fairy came and left her five dollars. Of course, she had to get sick then, and run a fever and that meant missing school, and  breaking her perfect attendance record.

The other children have been sick, too, with the usual coughs and runny noses. I talked to my daughter on the phone one day and she told me what her day had been like. One was running a fever, one had wet the bed, another one had had an accident and the baby was sitting under the kitchen table eating Cheerios off the floor. I laughed. Don't sweat the small stuff, was my sage advice. This, too, shall pass.