Grandpa diaries: The little chair
Paul Stevens, 72, from Sydney shares his precious experiences as life as granddad to Rose.
When Alice went to Wonderland she took a bite from one side of a piece of cake. All of a sudden she grew very tall with the result that all the furniture around her appeared very small. I’m prompted to recall this story as I look at the miniature chair – the seat just 27mm or 10.5 inches high – confidently used by my beautiful granddaughter, Rose, when she comes to stay. At 15 months she has graduated from the restrictive but safe high chair and now simulates us adults as she sits proudly up to the low coffee table. “I can do this as well,” her expression conveys.
This little chair prompts me to refresh my knowledge of the fairy stories I related to her mother nearly 40 years ago and my grandfather told me more than seven decades ago. Cinderella, Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby, Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and many more will need to be revisited, refreshed and memorised. I will enjoy that. At present she is easily entertained by taking off my nose and my ears and putting them back at the end of play just as countless granddads before me have gladly tolerated the same actions of their progeny. We also have these nonsense conversations that only she and I understand as she strives to form her first words. Any mature-age passer by would smile indulgently if they overheard. At least I like to think so. Rose and I know what we mean.
Rose will be ready soon for the fairy tales so I must not delay my preparation. Story telling is much more personal that passively watching together In the Night Garden on TV. The challenge will be to make her experience more engaging. Get in early before I loose out to an iPad for kids and these precious opportunities lost. Perhaps I will live long enough to be able to introduce Rose, as my granddad did to me, to those timeless favourites of my childhood, The Swiss Family Robinson and Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies. Or she may prefer Peter Pan and Wendy, and later Anne of Green Gables.
But I should stop here planning her future. She will go her own journey. Her resilience, energy and bright nature are already clearly evident. Her multi-tasking behaviour is well established as she persists in picking up not just one item but three, whether kitchen utensils or toys. My role is and should continue to be one of those who love her who catch the tears, laugh with her at her excitements, share her wonderment at her new experiences, and just be around when needed.
I do hope the little chair will be occupied again soon.