Once a week, Little Two and I carve out time for ourselves. I pick her up early from school for some special girl-time. As I open the door to her schoolroom, she usually gasps as soon as she catches a glimpse of my face. There is nothing much better than the adoration of a grandchild. It stops my heart every time. Most days Little Two drops what she is doing, and runs to me yelling "Nonna, Nonna..." at the top of her little toddler voice. It is music to my ears.
This last week when I opened the door, Little Two was sitting at the tiny table with her classmates having her afternoon snack, some delectable yogurt concoction. Immediately, I could see the conflict on her face. She kept looking from me to her bowl and back again. That yogurt was just so good. I solved her problem. I pulled a chair up to the table and sat down beside her. To my delight and surprise Little Two proceeded, toddler fashion, to introduce me to all of her teachers and classmates. She pointed and named each person, nodding and grinning with obvious pride. I would repeat each name and she would move to the next. Then she would start all over again. It was hilarious.
After we packed her things up, we headed back to Little Two's house. Other than playing outside and watching Elmo, Little Two loves nothing better than reading books. (She is part of a long line of book lovers: most notably her great-grandmother, BaBa, and her great-great-grandmother, Lou Lou.) And of course, being the opinionated almost-two-year old that she is, Little Two has her definite favorites...mostly those toddler books with flaps and things hiding behind them, but there is one book to which she returns over and over again:
Llama Llama Red Pajama, except she calls it Yamma Yamma Red PaYamma.
We have our routine down. Little Two reads Llama Llama to me and then I read it to her. She laughs. She takes the book from me, goes back to the beginning, and then we do it again. And again. I am not certain what it is about toddlers and the act of repetition, but doing the same thing over and over again must bring them a sense of comfort and security. All I know is that Yamma Yamma Red PaYamma is burned into this grandmother's brain.
And by the way, if you have not met Llama Llama, you must do so quickly!
Nonna needed a break from Llama Llama, so we headed outside to pick the last of the summer's tomatoes.
Little Two had to test them to be sure that they tasted just right. They did.
Isn't she just precious?!!!
She undoubtedly has my heart in the palm of her hand....
