Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Monday, May 14, 2018

Growing Toddlers

It seemed a good idea, I thought
                Some hours in the yard.
The winter months had been so long
                And I felt the need of working hard.

So armed with gloves and rakes and things,
                I started out the door.
Trailed by two toddlers
                Who loved to help with Gramma’s chores.

Things went well for a tic or two,
                As Gramma started in,
The girls spun circles in the yard
                Till Linney fell and bumped her chin.

A kiss and cuddle, tears were gone
                It really wasn’t hard.
I set her down and looked to see
                That Hazel’d wandered from the yard.

She’d not gone far, I scooped her up
                And carried her back home.
Then penned them both behind the gate,
                And told them sternly ‘not to roam’.

While toddlers watched, I grabbed my rake,
                But got no further then,
‘Cause Hazel shrieked; I had to run
                She’d fallen in the mud . . . again.

I fished her out and cleaned her off,
                A kiss, a tale to tell,
Then turned just as another shriek,
                Told me Lin was stuck as well.

I’m sure by now you’ve realized
                I didn’t manage much.
With Lin caught in the tramp’line springs
                And Hazel eating chalk and such.

Four bathroom breaks, ‘Pee, potty now!’
                And squabbles over things,
And pouring sand in someone’s hair,
                And all the angst that action brings.

Searching the yard from stem to stern
For Linney’s missing shoe,
Then doing the whole thing o'er again
                Cause Hazel’s hat was ‘somewhere’, too.

With helping up and helping down
                And watching in between.
It’s no wonder that my work just sat,
                With little progress to be seen.

Last night when all were sound asleep
                And peace had been restored,
I looked out the window there,
                And sang my praises to the Lord.

For though my tools were strewn about
With no sign of success,
My time was quite well spent, because
                I'm growing Toddlers in the mess.


Mondays do get knocked a lot,
With poetry, we three besought,
To try to make the week begin,
With gentle thoughts--perhaps a grin?
So Jenny and Delores, we,
Now post our poems for you to see.
And when you’ve read what we have brought,
Did we help? Or did we not . . .

Come back next week when we three 'tweens' (between 50 and 100), 
Will talk about what friendship means!

11 comments:

  1. It reminds me of that saying:
    Careful on the grass!
    We're growing memories, not grass!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Grammie had her hands full with those two....you always tell such a lovely story with your poems.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Adorable! I miss my grandmas. <3

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lovely...and enjoy your time with them...they grow up so fast...even faster than our kids did for some reason...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tricky rhyme scheme but you nailed it - and even more, nailed the lesson to be learned. I love that last line!

    "Friendship" for next week - got it! And thank you for showing how I can call myself a tween :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. So adorable. You should publish your poems!

    ReplyDelete
  7. It sounds like a perfect day. With seeds planted for spectacular blooms later.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love it! Too cute. Growing toddlers is quite an accomplishment.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Diane I LOVED this! I could picture it and it made me smile - they are so time consuming aren't they? But so much love and so much joy in the process xx

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh this is just perfect. I laughed the whole way through, and then at the end I felt tears spring to my eyes. I relate to this experience all too well, being the mother to one toddler (so far) with another bub on the way! Sometimes it's hard to keep the perspective that my daughter is my top "job" and all the others are secondary, but it is the right perspective to have. You're a very talented writer and poet! Hannah from www.womanontheway.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. I understand this so well, the times I lost an afternoon or two looking after toddler grandchildren are still fresh in my memory, even though those toddlers are now 22 and 24.

    ReplyDelete

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