Throwback Thursday: How to tell grandkids 'I love you' in another language

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Throwback Thursday: How to tell grandkids 'I love you' in another language

I tell my grandsons I love you a lot. Returning the sentiment to those who say it to them was one of the first phrases they learned, though it did sound a bit like a foreign language at first, one only family members understood. Phonetic translation of Camden’s first utterance of it: Wuh woo!

Such I love yous in a language foreign to all but family members can become a shared sweetness, carried on through the years. But have you ever said I love you in Finnish? Swahili? Russian? Or even Spanish, for those of you who — like me — have not even the most basic of foreign language skills?

While I love you sounds the very same in some languages — think Malaysian and Maltese — there’s a whole world of ways it can be pronounced in other languages.

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National Handwriting Day

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National Handwriting Day

Tomorrow is the day we celebrate all things cursive... and hand printed. Yes, my friends, January 23 is National Handwriting Day!

National Handwriting Day, a day created to honor all things related to penmanship, was designated in 1977 and is sponsored by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association. January 23 was chosen for the annual occasion as it's the birthday of John Hancock, whom we all know had quite the flair with signatures and such.

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7 significant BEs of being a significant grandmother

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7 significant BEs of being a significant grandmother

BE unconditional

Grandchildren come in assorted shapes, sizes, aptitudes, attitudes, with varied qualities and quirks. Love them because of those, regardless of those, in spite of those.

 

BE fair

Wherever two or more grandkids gather or grow, possibilities for playing favorites flourish. Avoid the all-too-human temptation to...

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No-cookies cookie swap!

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No-cookies cookie swap!

No-cookies cookie swap!

The holidays were happening at my house yesterday as a chunk of extended family gathered for a no-cookies cookie swap.

No cookies in a cookie swap? Well, our annual family cookie swap — a family tradition with my mom and my siblings for nearly 30 years — has become quite large as more and more kids of the siblings became adults and joined the swapping. Which meant the number of cookies...

 

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Cooking with grandchildren: Make the kitchen a classroom

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Cooking with grandchildren: Make the kitchen a classroom

Each year, families spend a lot of time in the kitchen together during the holidays. These moments not only make happy memories, but can be teachable moments as well, where grandchildren can learn valuable knowledge about the world around them.

Cooking and baking can be enjoyable pastimes for grandkids and grandparents who incorporate science in fun, interactive ways, ranging from the basics of measurements to thermodynamics and beyond. 

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Tree trinkets

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Tree trinkets

My halls are decked, my tree is up, my gift-shopping is nearly done. I'm a tad early on all my Christmas tasks this year as Jim and I will be out of town next weekend — sharing Christmas joy with our grandsons! (Woot!)

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Turkey Day hits

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Turkey Day hits

Welcome back from the long holiday weekend! I hope your Thanksgiving featured super-sized servings of good food and great times with family.

Our Turkey Day table featured a couple hits sure to make the menu as traditional favorites in Thanksgivings to come. 

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Plural magic!

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Plural magic!

Plural magic!

Welcome to a new week! I'd like to start this week sharing with you a smile, and few folks make me smile as much as my grandson Camden.

Most recently, Camden cracked me up with the following, which Megan posted on...

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Kudos to Kyra Sedgwick!

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Kudos to Kyra Sedgwick!

Jim and I attended a film screening and post-screening discussion on Saturday as part of the Denver Film Festival. The importance of the subject compelled me to tell you about it today, pre-GRAND Social (my most visited feature), rather than as a future Saturday movie review.

STORY OF A GIRL is the directorial debut for Kyra Sedgwick, and a powerful film parents, grandparents, and anyone sympathetic to struggles today's girls face should see.

For the film — which aired on Lifetime in July — Sedgwick directs her husband, Kevin Bacon, and Ryann Shane, as well as her daughter, Sosie Bacon. (Her son contributed the score, making it a full family affair.) Shane shines as Deanna, a 16-year-old girl attempting to overcome the repercussions of a sex video featuring her that...

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An open letter to new long-distance grandmas

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An open letter to new long-distance grandmas

Dear heartbroken long-distance grandma,

First, let me say congratulations on your grandma status! Whether you just learned you'd soon have a grandchild, a newborn grand recently arrived, or one or more grandkiddos have long been part of your heart, you are a grandmother and that's worth celebrating... again and again.

Today, though, I offer my condolences that your grandmother status carries, or soon will, the long-distance modifier. I know how hard that is on you. I know because I am you — a long-distance grandma.

I've been a long-distance grandma a while, with hundreds of miles separating me from my sweet ones ever since the initial "You're going to be a grandma!" announcement nearly ten years ago. Considering the survival strategies I've learned the hard way...

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