Overwhelmingly Grandma

Here is Caroline, seven years old. You can see the stuffed horse she made today out of some old mice eaten cashmere sweaters. She loves it and takes it everywhere. This is a grandchild I don't yet know very well; she lives across the continent as far as one can go from here and still be in America. So I treasure her visits.

I think our time (a whole week!) will be spent in my studio where she is already feeling comfortable finding out where everything is. She drew the picture of the horse she wanted to make and we carefully translated it to the soft knitted cashmere and I sewed it up on my sewing machine - the body, the head and the legs. Caroline carefully stuffed everything with polyester filling, I sewed them together, and then she decided on the ears, nose, eyes and the mane and tail. And, suddenly everything came together and she now has this wonderful horse (Esmerelda) that now goes everywhere with her.

Yes, I am deft (daft?) to eagerly help kids make stuff. But it is so satisfying to send him or her off with a real product they have had major input in making.

Caroline is fascinated with everything that hops, wriggles slithers or flies. Our tables are covered with shed snake skins, screened jars of monarch caterpillars about to pupate and containers of tree frogs who are just visiting for a little while. After two days this little girl knows everywhere to find lizards, skinks, frogs.. Of course, I love this child after my own heart!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?  Such joys of being a grandmother!

I could keep this essay purely about Caroline, but, actually she did bring her dad and brother with her, and this weekend there were many relatives visiting. But maybe my time so far with Caroline is pure. We connect - who would have thought?