Watch, Grandma, Watch!

          Austin positions himself across the living room from me with a ball.  He looks like he’s preparing to make a winning shot.  He waves his little arms and motions for me to stand back.  I step back .  He lets go with a straight kick of the soft soccer ball. We are playing indoors because Washington D.C. has just had two feet of snow on the ground and the back yard is buried.  (All weekend while I was there, Austin would point out the back kitchen window with some anxiety and say “Basketball hoop…” to show me that it had fallen over. It was lying sadly on its side buried in the snow.) 

 

            “Good job…” I exclaim when the ball comes across to me.  “Cool,” says Austin and pronounces the “oo” like an exaggerated “u” sound.  “Cool” is one of his favorite expressions which he utters with great enthusiasm.   I kick the ball lightly back and he goes for it with a kind of footwork I have not seen a two year old perform. He laughs delighted that he has engaged me yet again to play with him.  He is surprisingly coordinated never losing his footing or tripping over his own feet.

            We played this game over and over on my recent visit sometimes with a balloon or some indoor ball.  He would start with curling his little hand to motion me to “come here”.  And then would say,  “Watch, Grandma…” which I loved.  He would either do his soccer kick or pick up his mini tennis racket and show me his swing letting go with a tennis ball.  Hayden has given him some tennis lessons and he practices although we are not sure whether he will be a lefthander or a right. There is no question that Austin has the “sports gene”, which is not surprising with two athletic parents who are enthusiastic professional sports fans.  Austin will sit next to Hayden when a tennis match is on TV and take it all in.

            Within an hour of being with Austin after 3 months, I realized I did not need to worry.  He was comfortable with Grandma and Grandpop as if he had just seen us. Hayden told me they keep pictures of all the grandparents out and talk to Austin about us when we aren’t there.  As I sat next to his car seat in the backseat of the red Mini we were having quite a conversation.  “You are going to come visit me this summer, “I told him.  And then talked about the fun things we would do when he comes to Asheville.  When there was a pause he suddenly piped up “OK!”  And after thinking for another minute or so he laughed and said “It’s a deal!” and held up his little hand for a high five. He absorbs words and phrases like a sponge but seems to interject them in the conversation at the right place. 

            Austin is a chatterbox as he takes in the world around him.  We had conversations about the animals we saw in the National Zoo – panda bear, alligator, elephants, and snakes.  When I would ask “remember the panda bear at the zoo?” and he would pipe up “panda bear in the snow” or “alligator mouth open”…and indeed he remembered the alligator with his huge mouth full of teeth. 

            He loves to imitate expressions and one of his favorites is “good idea” and “bad idea”.  I’m not sure if he knows what a good idea is but since adults say “good idea” enthusiastically he intuitively must know it’s something good.  Then he likes to tease back and say “bad idea” to get a reaction.  One of his very first phrases was "Jeter, bad boy!" which he heard his parents saying.  Jess told me she quickly had to correct that to "good boy"

            “What’s your name?” I asked him.  He shyly answered “Austin Aaronson” which is a mouthful of a’s for sure but he’s already got it down.  He’s learning colors and comes out with yellow, or blue or red when you least expect it.  Red Mini is a favorite since Hayden & Jessica have a red Mini car.  Austin can pick out Mini cars all over the city when we are driving around.  He’ll suddenly say “Mini” and sure enough we will have passed one or there will be one behind us.  He knows his cars.  Up in his bedroom there are two Matchbox suitcases full of little cars only these are Hayden’s cars from his childhood, which make them almost antiques.  Austin opens the suitcase and gets out a few and plays with them on the rug in his room.  I am overcome remembering my towheaded toddler, Hayden, loving those little cars that we collected and saved for so many years.

            Words and sports are Austin’s passion along with doing things by himself.  He wants to zip his jacket, spoon out his own cereal, hang on to Jeter’s leash and walk him, choose the book we will read, unbuckle his seatbelt, open doors,  climb stairs, and walk instead of ride in his stroller. That takes a lot of patience with a two year old but Hayden & Jess let him try it all.  He does have his moments when he needs a real distraction and, of course, it is the Iphone with the U-Tube videos of Sesame Street.  Only as a last resort does he get the IPhone. But watching his tiny finger hit just the right icon as he furrows his brow in great concentration is something I can't get used to.   I think how we never dealt with that when our kids were young but it’s impressive to watch how children today are born already knowing how to manipulate technology.

            I am back home now from a memorable time with Austin. I go around each day doing my usual activities but I carry a little voice that says “Watch, Grandma, watch…” in my head.  I am watching from afar waiting for the next visit.