Scarlett is a happy scamp at 12 months

Scarlett’s world has taken over my living room

Today is my darling grand-daughter Scarlett’s first birthday and I can hardly wait until tomorrow for her first birthday party.

This chubby little lady makes my heart burst with love each time she sees me and smiles in recognition. When her daddy says “where is grand-ma’?’ she turns, smiles and points at me.  I am part of her small universe and I bask in her sweet disposition. She is not shy and observes her world in wonder.

Bathtime is our special time when I visit. Over the year, I have watched fascinated anew at the miracle of a baby’s development. She has changed in such a natural manner from a newborn lying placid in a tiny baby bath on the laundry bench gurgling at the feel of water running over her soft skin to a lively little girl squirming to be let out of her seat in a bathtub. It is filled with myriad floating sea creatures. Rubber duckies are there, too, of course, but she picks each plastic piece up, surveys it, squeezes it and then laughs when water squirks out.  She has wriggled out of her bath seat and now is free of its constriction, easily pulling herself up from sitting position to grip the edge of the bath.

Once a week her parents take her to swimming lessons and I have watched poolside, snapping many photographs of her fearlessness in the water, safe in the arms of her daddy.

Scarlett is not walking yet, but crawls at a slick pace and will push a chair across the room, as she learns to walk.  She is fascinated by my dog, Oscar, but if he gets too close she will give him a swift kick. One gets the sense that this little child will be OK in life whatever it serves up.

She has a great appetite and will devour soup, vegies and two buckets of baby yoghurt in one sitting, mouth wide open for each spoonful, then after her nightly bath, she will happily hold her bottle, empty it and then discard it, curling into the crook of my arm, her eyes already closed.

Bedtime is no drama.

Recently Scarlett entered the wider world of childcare when her mummy returned to paid work and this move produced fierce opposition and a flood of tears each time. Now on the fridge there are two photographs of a happy child taken by childcare staff to prove she is actually content in their company with her little playmates.

As her grandma, I am a registered adult to pick her up and I can think of no greater joy in life than to push the empty pusher around the corner from her home with Oscar in tow to collect her up from childcare.  Each time she recognises me and heads on all fours in my direction, giggling in joy, I am awash with warm love.

 

 

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