Preschool

I have eight beautiful grandchildren. We are fortunate in that my husband Art has every Friday off, so at times, we take advantage of that day to spend “Grandma and Grandpa Days” with our grandchildren. Some of the grandchildren call me Nana and some call me Grandma; some of the grandchildren call Art Papa and some of them call him Grandpa. We answer to each precious name they have chosen for us.

These very special days are filled with fun and give both Art and I a chance to learn and be taught; it is a day when we both come down to a child’s level of seeing the world through their eyes and surround ourselves with the beautiful simplicity of their little world.

Our three grandsons, Austin age six, Ashton age four, and Brady age two, were spending just such a day with us. We expected Keaton, our other four-year-old grandson to join us after preschool ended at noon.

Preschool for him had become a wonderful experience in his little life. His goal was to get big and graduate from kindergarten like his cousin Austin. After all, Keaton claimed, Austin was now a “teenager” because Austin had graduated from kindergarten in June (and wore his graduation gown proudly in his graduation picture on our wall).

Keaton arrived, excited to see the others waiting for him; excited to join them around the table and share their favorite lunch of Papa/Grandpa’s chicken nuggets and fries. Austin, Ashton and Keaton took turns saying their children’s Grace and Brady’s quiet little “Amen” followed. The dining room quickly filled with sounds of laughter and joy and yes…it was mealtime.

Art and I took our places with these four beautiful grandchildren with our heart’s full of love and pride. Their constant chatter was a gift to our ears. Austin and Ashton told Keaton of our trip to Wal-Mart to shop for Christmas rice krispies for each of the four sets of grandchildren. They loved the red and green colored cereal and had spent much of their time deciding on which of the identical boxes were theirs and which belonged to the other children. While there, all three had selected a small toy for Keaton as well as themselves.

When the first moment of quietness filled the room, I told Keaton that all of us had a little surprise for him after he had finished his lunch. But through lunch the stories continued, each one more amazing than the first. Austin and Ashton told Keaton how they had learned to do on-line color pages of Chicken Little and laughed as they recalled how they could change the drawings from one color to another. With growing excitement in their voices, they told Keaton of the fun they had coloring in their new transformer coloring books.

Little Brady just smiled as he looked from one child to the other. Like any two year old, he had followed in their footsteps and absorbed the teachings of a four and six year old.

When lunch was nearly over and as I was anxious for Keaton, in turn, to share his entire morning at school with the other children, I asked, “Keaton, can you tell us about your morning in school, Sweetheart?”  I prepared myself for an entire three-hour episode of preschool, but in the next few seconds I heard all I needed to hear to make me realize how important one sentence is to a child’s world and his little future….

“Well”, said Keaton, after hesitating to collect his thoughts…”The teacher asked me ‘Would you like raisins’? and I said ‘No thank you’ and the teacher asked me ’Would you like cheese and crackers?’ and I said, Yes please”.

 His smile that followed lit up my world; he had shared with us his preschool morning and he had shared it with pride with the other children, and with Art and I. Looking very proud, he awaited our comments. With love tugging at my heart, I replied, ”Keaton, I am so very proud of you”.

In the wondrous little world of a four year old, a three-hour morning had been summed up in just a few words… but they were enough words for me to whisper, “Thank you God for this wonderful Child!” It was at that moment that I thanked God for the gift of our grandchildren. I had just learned another “Grandchild Lesson”! A child’s morning can be summed up in one sentence, and yet, one moment to a child can be remembered forever.

November 2005

Millie P. Lorenz

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