February 15, 2010
Tonight has been fun with little miss Alli. We sat down after dinner and did a preschool workbook on phonics. She (in my humble opinion) is smart as a whip. I figured we do a page or two. We did about six and I finally made her get jammies on. She loved it. I'm going to try to incorporate "home work" into our routine. She loves it. I, on the other hand, not so much. Not sure I'm ready for homework yet. Funny Alli story. Alli has some stuffed animals-- a leopard and two dogs. She refers to them as "leopard, dog, and dog."

Sunday... not the same Sunday anymore

So it's Sunday morning. That time when I used to relish getting up, reading the paper, watching the Today show and figuring out what to do with the rest of the day. And now... it's up at dawn, pancakes for breakfast, skimming the paper, doing laundry, trying to catch up on work, exercising with Alli, and cleaning the house. All of this before the Monday and another week begins. Oh yes, before I forget... why did I title my blog Nana Mama? Because James Patterson writes Alex Cross novels and Alex's grandmother is helping him raise his children. Her name is Nana Mama. I liked it. I'm Alli's granmother, paternal grandmother. My other daughter, Jenny, is 23 years old and lives with me. She is going to nursing school and she helps me in amazing ways with Alli. The burden she carries is that Alli is not her daughter, but they resemble each other as mothers and daughters often do. We live in a pretty conservative community and the looks she gets at the mall, in the grocery store, post office, wherever... are pretty interesting. So Jenny is auntie sister, but often gets the mom title. Somehow when we got Alli I figured I could still pass-- not so much. I look my age and maybe more... I feel about twenty eight except for the flab, aches, pains, and wrinkles... which is why I've embarked on exercising with Alli. I need to be here for her and I'd better get on the stick with that project, time's a wasting... Okay. one fun Alli story before I get moving with the day. We were getting ready for work one day and I was late(as usual... someday I hope to conquer that). We were getting ready to get in the car when I told Alli to get a move on that she was dawdling. Alli came to the garage, whalked overto her car door (the one with the car seat) and she looked up at me and said, "Yeah, and you are high "may te nance". I didn't catch it at first and then I realized that she meant, "high maintenance." wow. Okay Al is wanting me to start her computer so she can play... onward and upward.

Nana Mama

1/30/10

I'm starting a blog about raising my grandchild. Woman of color have been doing this for years. I've been doing it for almost four years now. It's by far the most humbling experience I've had in life. Alli came to me when she was just one month old. I think God gives us this amazing naivette at times to get us to where we need to be. When Alli came to live with me I thought I had boundless energy and patience to raise a child one more time. I realize it now that it was God helping me have grace as I took on this new role. She was an easy baby with great big eyes, but not super active. I actually worried that she might delayed. I'll talk more about that another day. Well fast forward three years and ten months. Nope, she's definitely not delayed. Alli is smart as a whip and keeps me on my toes every minute. Right now she has a cape on and is pretending the dog is a student... poor dog.