Editor’s Note; There are stories and then there are stories. These touch you, These make you think, These make you smile. This one reminded me of the lovely growing years that I have spent with my grand parents. They always have a special place in a child’s heart. And, the child too, is special to each grand ma and each grand pa. Here is one story from our IL family member, BHAVNAM6.

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You could take a nap in my time machine ride as it has to travel for long 35 years forward till you see a newly labeled grand mom.

I had to travel earlier than my scheduled trip to my daughter’s house as my granddaughter arrived before time. Obviously she was not at all less thrilled to see her grand mom
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Apparently I was ready but not quite ready with my hair, facial etc.I had prolonged to color my hair till the date of my departure as I did not want my grey hair to be seen by my granddaughter. Now as she arrived early – at that point my few black hair were struggling hard to peep out from the crowd of grey hair. Honestly all of them are desperate to turn into silver soon! (Actually I am not lying. Overall my most of the hair have decided to quit on me)

Anyway I was gratified to be a grand mom. Technically I was already a grand mom. However I did not want to look like a grand mom!

I know it is a complex issue. I am sorry. .I give up on this. No more attempts to resolve this issue.Seriously being a Grand mom! With exhausted frontal lobe my precious part of the brain. I want to preserve this damaged piece intact for the rest of my life. So please accept this grand mom as she is. I know you all are my dear friends.thank you for being patient with me. I had to rush to the beauty parlor to hide my silver hair. What an irony of a grand mom!

I did not forget to get facial and manicure, pedicure done.Oh yeah and new fancy clothes too. What could I do.? Evidently one led to another.

I do not have words to describe when I saw my granddaughter for the first time. It is indeed a breath taking experience. Certainly blissful moments. My heart was pounding tirelessly. No no I did not have heart attack. Thank God my granddaughter approved me as her grand mom. By winking at me, My efforts to look young and bubbly did not go in vain.

With all my zeal I was ready to play young grand mom duties.

I told my daughter that we need soft side pillow for her to keep her head straight as I used to be careful when my daughter was a little baby.She decided to ask doctor about this issue. I completely understood her concern as I am a modern open minded grand mom.

Incidentally her doctor was Indian so I was secretly hoping she would agree with me. I was wrong. I was told it was not necessary at all. According to modern studies. Clearly the beginning was not so good. Ha ha!

I had training session with my daughter for changing the diapers. She told me to grab baby wipes from the warmer which was mistakenly unplugged. I tried to warm it with my hand….little did I know that I was removing the cleanser from the wipes. I was scored zero in this magnificent venture by my daughter for the babyish ignorance…..

I was supposed to change the diaper when wet diaper indicator shows yellow line turns blue. I kept forgetting about the color specification and ended up changing diapers even when not required. My daughter ran out of the diapers and had to order more diapers.

Seriously I am impressed by this young moms…they are so well educated before they became mom.They are well trained by medical professional during their pregnancy. I realized that how naïve I was when I became mother for the first time..I continued staying naïve being first time grand mom as well….I am not a quitter once I chose to be one.

Up until now I was browsing the website for my diet plans. As you know from my snippet…my new gorgeous outfit!

And with progressing age all the health websites like precautions for arthritis, diabetes, and blood pressure all old age gratuity benefits, I need to stop here hence the list is too long. My new task was to educate myself in the area of handling new born baby.

I Googled various websites ( I kept close friendship with Google like one of my friends).saved links in my folder for future reference. Not to look witless in front of my daughter.

In the beginning I was at my daughter’s house for three weeks. I could not stay longer due to my work commitments. Now when my granddaughter was almost sixteen weeks old I insisted my daughter to come and stay with us for five weeks. During these five weeks my granddaughter and I teamed up really well. My heart was overflowing with amazing emotions.

I used to call her by any name out of my passionate affection…like…..kuku…chichu…nanu…kuchi….chinki….. .chinku…..chuchu….and on and on….she has a pretty name with beautiful meaning. Little did I care for it despite my daughter’s surprising reaction.
My daughter told me that according to recent studies we should not talk with little one in baby language. I did not listen to her. Come on! Then how could I have fun of talking in unusual manner? Distinctly I cannot have baby talk with my husband either!

I used to make rules for my daughter when she was young. Now she was making rules when I am young….sorry old!

She broke the rules so did I! I did realize the pleasant feeling of saying ‘Ditto……ditto….ditto…..ha ha ha”

All day I was singing nursery rhymes while playing with her. They empowered me to the extent that while doing my chores or running errands all I was doing was humming those nursery rhymes…please do not laugh……promise….? Shhhhhhh……. I was doing the same during my daily prayers as well……..oopsssss….how many times I had to ask for forgiveness from HIM for being so overwhelming….!!!!

Oh friends! How much joy it was to enjoy those moments without any rules or discipline…I did not have to worry about the stock for diapers or wipes or buying soft detergent, softener, lotions, shampoo etc. Neither did I have to worry about her schedule for feeding; sleeping. All I was doing was playing with her in baby talk….

My daughter was constantly on the go for keeping everything in order for baby hence she was not able to enjoy playing with baby as much as I did. This is the perk of being a grand mom. Actually I was able to make up the time when my kids were young. While holding and playing with her, my granddaughter and I had competition dropping her washcloths, blankets and toys…being both of us careless in this area…

I wanted to live those moments with full of spirit without pressure. We teamed up pretty well in this exertion. My daughter was upset with my carelessness as she had to run for laundry twice a day.

Secretly both of us were doing high five during my daughter’s absence in the room….. ! Yes….we did it….!

I am sure she was giving me meaningful smile for my efforts to get her prepared to be a naughty girl. In the morning while I was cooking, my daughter would bring her downstairs in the kitchen…..and I am not exaggerating at all…..she would give me the first smile in the morning…..I used to forget about everything in this world…except enjoying those splendid moments! My cooking was interrupted several times as I used to take care of her while my daughter was busy doing something. I had to take off my apron while holding her as my daughter did not want me to hold her with spices all over my apron…

By now you know about my great memory so well after reading all my snippets..

I used to forget to wear apron again while cooking so now I had to go and change my top with fresh one. Interestingly…..everyday this ended up for me changing tops several times in a day. exactly like a baby. This astounding grand mom was not careful enough. My washer and dryer were exhausted by granddaughter’s and grand mom’s laundry.

The city I live in was happy to send us the triple amount of bills for water, electricity….etc…….My husband was about to give them a call by noticing the unusual amount in the invoice but I took the situation under control and by my brilliant explanation he had to believe that we were not overcharged……and they were real amount we were supposed to pay….!!!!

By looking at my insane behavior Once My daughter was talking to her little one, ” look baby Nani is getting old now….!”……..and I almost responded to her,” Hogi Teri Maa Budhdhi”…..Oh boy…we both laughed…..nothing I could do to prove her wrong……..

Sometimes my granddaughter chose to stay with me over my daughter…..did you see? Actually my undisciplined behavior worked great for my bonding with her…..ha ha! Some of my friends here could be testimonials for me as she showed her love toward her grand mom by her awfully twinkling laughter. My daughter captured these timeless moments of this unique pair giggling together. Interestingly this video works to calm her down whenever she is cranky for some reason…

I hope you will not blame me if I put on some weight while cheering these unprecedented moments with my charismatic granddaughter…

Please be assured that I am not trying to be pretentious as you would all agree with the fact….THERE IS ONLY ONE BEAUTIFUL CHILD IN THE WORLD AND EVERY GRAND MOM HAS IT…….!!!!