February 24, 2023

Pic of the week: Cautionary Tale

February 24, 2023/ Lisa Carpenter

Let me preface the sharing of this picture by noting that Benjamin is fine. Though he will need a follow-up with an ophthalmologist once the swelling is gone.

November 28, 2018

Hosting wee holiday guests? 7 safety steps for grandparents

November 28, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

If you’re one of the fortunate ones hosting a houseful of young’uns for festive fun, consider making the following alterations while putting out seasonal decorations to ensure holiday gatherings at Grandma’s are as merry and bright—and safe—as can be.

February 19, 2018

A plumber's daughter on shootings, guns, and mental illness

February 19, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

In the aftermath of the appalling loss of life in Florida on Valentine's Day, social media is once again abuzz with anger, outrage, sadness, stingers, zingers, and some seemingly common-sensical solutions (others very nonsensical and hate-filled) related to gun control, mental illness, and myriad other factors related to yet another WTF situation.

Once again because nothing changed after the last mass shooting. Or the one before. Or the one before. Or the one before and before and before.

Most of the rhetoric and (justified) rantings seem...

April 12, 2017

A cautionary tale: Look before they leap

April 12, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

Poor Bud — and Brianna — learned a painful lesson the hard way not too long ago. A lesson in something I never really considered, as a parent or as a grandparent.

See, on a recent sunny day, Bud and Brianna headed to the local skatepark. Bud, a budding skateboarder, was excited to spend a couple hours trying out a park he'd not yet frequented. (Truth be told, I think he had frequented very few skate parks — if any — since his passion for boarding began.)

I had babysat Bud that morning, and he mentioned several times the fun he looked forward to that afternoon.

To say the kid was pumped is an understatement.

After lunch that day, Brianna and Bud headed to the skate park. As soon as they arrived, Bud could contain himself no longer. He quickly donned his helmet, grabbed his board, and raced to his first obstacle: an awesome, amazing, yet seemingly (relatively) safe jump.

It looked like this:

skatepark obstacle

Bud figured he'd go up the angled ramp on the front side and down...

July 01, 2015

8 reasons grandparents should not resist a rest

July 01, 2015/ Lisa Carpenter

Once you're old enough to be a grandparent, a good night's sleep is hard to come by. Chalk it up to hormones, hot flashes, medications, and more. Considering the causes can be exhausting in itself.

Despite our continual quest to quench our desire for downtime, we grandparents often flat-out refuse to rest our weary heads when we're with our grandchildren. Whether it's because we feel guilty or we simply want to "get stuff done," resisting a rest can be detrimental to our health and happiness. Detrimental to the health and happiness of our grandchildren, too—especially when they're in our care.

Here's why:

sleeping woman and dog

NOT GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP...

May 19, 2015

Grandma's magnifying glass lesson

May 19, 2015/ Lisa Carpenter

My two oldest grandsons, Bubby and Mac, love Scooby Doo and the idea of solving mysteries. So when I visited them in January, I brought along an old magnifying glass we had lying around.

The boys got a kick out of taking a closer look at bugs and rocks—as they previously had with a toy magnifying glass I once brought—and pretending they were on the path to discovering clues that might solve a case of an imaginary Scooby Doo and the gang sort.

magnifying glass and boys

When I packed my grandma bag for this current visit, I figured I'd...

October 28, 2014

Don't freefall backward down the slide, plus other tips learned in a bounce house

October 28, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

Because my grandsons have an in-ground trampoline at their house, you wouldn't think they'd get much fun out of the Bounce-A-Round I reviewed a while back — which Bubby and Mac had not yet seen. During their visit a couple weeks ago, though, once Patrick brought his son over and the inflatable bouncing thingamajig was inflated, Bubby, Bud and Mac had a boisterous bouncing blast.

bounce a round

A couple days later, the bouncing blast was supersized when PawDad...

May 06, 2014

Swimming lessons

May 06, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

“It's the colors that will make you stray. They sing to you, the not-blue and the searing light, and no matter how tightly you tie yourself to the inbetween, eventually you will break free.
No one swims only in the shallow water.”
― Betsy Cornwell, Tides

Mac began swimming lessons this past Saturday, his first ever.

toddler swim lesson

Big brother Bubby...

September 23, 2013

Texting truths tempered with humor, plus GRAND Social No. 71

September 23, 2013/ Lisa Carpenter

Many of you know my thoughts on texting while driving. Bottom line: It's bad.

Beyond the potentially disastrous effects of texting while driving, though, there are other reasons texting — while driving or not — isn't so great. A recent conversation between comedian Louis C.K. and Conan O'Brien touches on a few of those reasons, and considering that our grandchildren do (or will) use cell phones and text far more than previous generations, I thought it worth sharing with you.

In the following, Louis C.K. makes a profound point about texting, tempered with humor yet oh so true.

It's something to think about next time you see your grandchildren or children texting. Something to think about next time you or I text, since some of us are just as tethered to it as the kids.

On another front: My sister is home! She has many challenges and a tough road ahead, but being home is a great start. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers for her. You've made a difference.

And on yet another front:

Welcome to GRAND Social No. 71! Thank you joining me!

link party

How it works:

All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

Grandma’sBriefs.com

The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.

If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

For another grandparent linky, visit Connie's Grandparent's Say It Saturday Link Party each Saturday.

August 19, 2013

Weekend woes plus GRAND Social No. 66

August 19, 2013/ Lisa Carpenter

Sometimes the weekends don't go quite as one might hope they would. This past weekend was exactly that way for my daughter Megan and her family.

The weekend started off all wrong for poor Megan. After a long first week of school, she arrived home Friday afternoon to find Mac in bad shape and Preston furiously scrubbing blood from Mac and Bubby's bedroom carpet. Just moments before, Mac had jumped from the night table and came down hard on the wood bedframe around Bubby's bed. Down on his mouth. His upper gum, to be exact.

Megan zoomed Mac to Emergicare while Preston scrubbed blood and stayed with Bubby. Emergicare turned her away, saying, "Get that boy to the pediatric dentist now!" She took him there, X-rays showed no broken baby or permanent teeth, and the poor little guy left with an open wound (technical term for the ouchie: degloving) that will supposedly heal relatively quickly.

Scenes from the woeful experience:

Tiny Mac prepped for the dentist.

The ouchie — after seeing the dentist.

As one Facebook friend said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" I hope she's right. Not so sure Mac learned his lesson, though, as despite the pain, Mac still was a chipper little fella, evidenced by this photo taken immediately after the one above of Mommy holding back his lip:

Still smiling.

The weekend woes didn't end there for Megan and the gang. Next up was a bad-hair day — for Roxy, the family dog, who normally looks like this:

Roxy — July 2013

Megan texted me a photo Saturday afternoon of Roxy, who now, thanks to an "oops!" by the groomer, looks like this:

shaved retriever

Not the best weekend ever. But as Megan said about the turn of events: It could be worse. Cheers to perspective — and to Mac's mouth healing quickly. (And Roxy's fur growing fast, too!)

Plus... Cheers to one and all joining me today for GRAND Social No. 66! Time for the party!

link party

How it works:

All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

Grandma’sBriefs.com

The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.

If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."