A DAY IN A LIFE OF A GRANDMOTHER

I wrote this when I went to help Linda with her new baby in July 1985.  This was her sixth child and she was only 28years old.

Her other children were Heidi, age nine, Adam age eight, Nicholas age five, Simon age four and Joshua age two. Heidi was born in Trail, Adam in Vernon and the rest of them in Calgary.

Drawing of me by Adam

Simon says: “Take down the picture of the horse.  The horse’s eye is looking at me all the time.

Adam is laying on the couch.

Nick says to Adam: “Are you the Mother”. 

Adam: “No”

Nick: “Why are you then laying down”

(Linda has been sick a lot the last year and have laid down a lot)

Heidi and me wanted to go swimming one day, but we could not get in.

Me: I wonder what kind of swimming goes on right now”

Heidi: “Swimming is for old people like you” (I am 47)

Simon – age four – still cannot say the letter L.

He says. “Nichonas, cnose the door.”

It is 7:00 a.m.

I give baby Nephi a bottle and a clean diaper.

Then Nicholas and Simon comes down and plays with the 4by4.

Simon gets upset because he does not have a 4by4 and ask me why I did not give him any.

The baby needs burping.

Adam comes down and dumps all his space Legos that he has gathered since he was two years old.

Nicholas asks if he can play too. “No” says Adam.  They are MY space Legos.

I ask Adam to let Nicholas and Simon play too.  He finally let them and explains to them how to do it. Nicholas says “I can do it by myself”.  I say: “Let Nicholas do it his way Adam”. “But he can’t do it, Adam says.  “well, maybe not your way, but his own way” I say.

The baby does not burb.

Joshua is calling “Eidi” from upstairs.

Simon- age four - goes and get Joshua – age 2 out of his crip.

Joshua comes down with his “Ba-Ba” (It is a bottle looking like Barney from the Flintstone cartoon)

Joshua shows me his bottle and says: “ba-ba” – which means “Please give me apple juice in my bottle)

Joshua does not speak much. He has problems with his hearing.  The doctor think it might be his adenoids and he see a specialist tomorrow to have his hearing checked.

He might need to go to a speech therapist.

The baby is burping

Joshua needs clothes on. He has taken off his pamper and runs around in his birthday suit.

Heidi is still sleeping.  She needs a bit more sleep than the boys because she is epileptic.

Baby Nephi burped and is now smiling and talking.  Pretty good for a seven-week-old baby.

Everybody crowds around Nephi to see “the wonder of a baby smiling and talking.

Joshua go into the space legos.  Adam starts his “Monkey-scream”, that means jumping and crying at the same time, while the arms move all over.

Joshua gets upset and throw one of the space-wings right across the room.

 I got to get dressed.  It is 8’oclock.

Heidi just came down and all the kids are asking what are we eating for breakfast.

Flemming is still sleeping, bus he has to get to work at 9:00 a.m., so he will probably get up soon.  He has clothes to wash and a sewing machine to fix.

I walk upstairs after having just put the baby in his rocking chair which is hung up in the door between the kitchen and living room.

It is a comfortable condo they live in with sliding doors in the kitchen.

The kids have lots of room to play.  In the back is a gulley and it is a dead-end street so the traffic is low.

It is raining today, so we have to find things to do inside. When the weather is good, the kids play outside most of the day and goes swimming in the afternoon.  They have a family pass to the pool.

I need a bath but can’t find my underwear. It is lost in all the laundry and I can’t leave the 6 kids for a long time, so I will have to wait and just do a “cat wash”. I guess I will take on jeans and a top since the weather is cool.

Condo living seems to bring a bond among the children.  The children have more friends and adults visit more forth and back and get the need of socializing fulfilled.

Adam is going to play with Dale and Dustin. 

Joshua has to go the hospital for an operation.  He has to get his adenoids out and tubes in his ears.  He can’t hear.

We are going swimming

The kids are sleeping downstairs.

Nicholas do not like clowns.

Heidi got a birthstone ring.

I am cleaning up the yard.

The kids are having a water fight. Heidi is watering the flowers.

I am tired and exhausted Mormor

1985
Cochrane, Alberta, Canada