Brooke is the last of the grandchildren who came to our house while her mother and father worked. Until this fall, this had been going on through several grandchildren for more than 12 years.
Actually, it had been a longer period of time for my husband because he drove to Roane County every other week for a couple of years to take care of our other two grandchildren, Cheyenne and Mason.
After Mason became sick and was in the hospital for four months, my husband became a surrogate parent for Cheyenne whenever her mother and father had to be in Columbus.
Now, the prospect of having no grandchild around during the day was daunting to say the least. This, coupled with the emptiness left by the death of my mother-in-law who had lived beside us for several years, made the winter ahead seem very lonely.
Also, last spring our oldest granddaughter graduated from high school making us realize how fast children grow up and that it would seem like no time before the others would follow.
However, something good appeared on the horizon that really brightened our day. Our “peeps” from Roane County decided to get jobs in Mingo County and move back. Not only that, they will be living beside us for awhile, and they have a five year old who started kindergarten this year and a two year old who now comes to our house at least one day each week while her parents work.
Her name is Bailee and she isn’t like the other grandchildren. We are going to have to “Bailee proof” the house.
All of the others were normal little people who had their stubborn streaks, temper tantrums, and independent ways to a certain point, but they could all be petted or cajoled into behaving well.
If we didn’t want them to go into a room, we turned out the light and shut the door. They always asked for what they wanted such as chocolate milk, snacks, or toys.
If we went somewhere, they wore a “good” outfit (chosen by an adult) and let me comb their hair. Their shoes matched and were age appropriate.
They learned motor skills when they were supposed to and in the appropriate order. As they grew from a toddler to a child, they learned to turn flip flops, jump off a step, go up and down stairs, swing, and to not be afraid of the dark.
They learned to talk first in syllables, then in words, then in two word sentences, etc.
Potty training was a step by step process with a lot of help from adults. If the light was out in the bathroom, no one entered until the light was turned on.
I guess God, in His wisdom, knew we needed a pick me up this year, so He saved the surprises for last, and along came Bailee. Borrowing a term from one of his favorite movies, my husband calls her “bona fide.” I say she is “something else.”
A little blonde headed bundle of pixie energy, Bailee is the most independent two year old I have ever encountered in my life. Her favorite sayings are as follows: “I do it,” “I go,” and the proverbial “No!”
She has no fear of the dark. In fact, there aren’t many things she is afraid of. It makes no difference if a room is dark or lit; she will go in. She jumps off riding toys, chair arms, couches, backs of couches, or whatever else she thinks will make a good “launch.”
Rope swings are no problem. Last week her grandpa turned his back on her in the yard, and she was half way up a rope swing before he could catch her. One day, I caught her climbing up the shelves of the refrigerator to reach something she wanted which was on the top shelf.
If she is quiet, it is time to see what she is doing. On one of these occasions, I found her getting ready to make herself some “chokit mlk.”
She already had the milk, a glass, and some chocolate out ready to pour.
There is no door (we have found) that she can’t open if she can reach the handle, and there is no lid she can’t get off including fingernail polish. Most children learn to use the potty in steps. One day, Bailee decided she would “go potty,” and has done so since that time.
She takes herself to the potty, flushes it, and washes her hands with no help. She doesn’t even have to have the light turned on. I think she has cat eyes.
Most two year olds at least have to hold on to the railing while going down the steps. Not Bailee. She goes down the steps like a big girl and as fast as a big girl. If she says, “Bye. See ya,” we know to pay attention because that means she is already out the door and down the steps, probably to play with the dogs.
The two little family pet dogs are crazy about her. If she is going down the walk, they are right on her heels.
Her mother talks her into fixing her hair by telling her she is getting “doggie ears” (two pony tails). I tried that, but it didn’t work. We don’t comb hair on the days she stays at our house.
When she goes to church or somewhere with her parents, she usually dresses in a cute outfit because her big sister, Autumn, wears one, too. Autumn isn’t around when she stays at our house, and Bailee’s idea about what she wants to wear doesn’t usually agree with mine or her mother’s. Therefore, she wears some weird outfits. She might have on a tee shirt that hangs down past her knees. Her shoes may or may not match what she has on. In fact, they may not even be her shoes.
One Sunday morning before they moved to Mingo County, her daddy told everyone to hurry and get their shoes on because they were going to be late for church. Bailee did as he said, but when he got ready to put his own shoes on, he discovered that his baby had already put them on with her Sunday school dress and was on the porch waiting for him. She couldn’t find her own shoes, so she substituted.
Everyone in the family has learned if we are looking for something such as the remote control, we first ask Bailee. Usually she goes right to it, but every once in awhile she says, “I not know.” In that case, it could be lost forever.
As with the potty, when Bailee started to talk, she skipped the one word sentences and started saying phrases and long sentences. However, she forgot that she was supposed to learn to pronounce the words correctly before she started this, so sometimes no one except Bailee knows what she is saying. In these cases, she becomes very aggravated with the person who doesn’t understand because she knows exactly what she is saying and she understands everything people say to her.
If there is something we don’t want her to learn to do, we can’t let her see us do it. She watches everything we do and then does it. She is like a little sponge absorbing everything she can. She also solves her own problems.
I noticed at her house, there are riding toys “parked” in strange places. According to her mother, Bailee placed the toys there so she can stand on them and flip the light switches on and off. No one told her to do this (they certainly don’t want her climbing on the toys). She just figured it out by herself.
She gets her own snacks out if she can reach the box, and she puts her own straw in the Capri Sun drink. This is even hard for me to do sometimes.
I love the “Home Alone” movies which show a young boy left home alone to ward off two burglars bent on trying to break in. I always watched these movies knowing that no child could carry out the feats the boy did in the movies. That was before Bailee.
I have no doubt that, when she reaches the age of the boy in the movie, she will be able to do everything he did and more!
Liz Armbruster once wrote, “I brought children into this dark world because it needed the light that only a child can bring.”
Bailee promises to bring light to the winter months ahead and she, along with her sisters and her cousins, will continue to bring light to our lives as nothing else in the world can. They are the halogen lights in our world.
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