Grandparent’s Day

I have become surrogate grandmother to my dear friend Bridget’s children. This suits me just fine, though I don’t much like being called Grandma. I just want to be called Jojo, which is my nickname’s nickname, and I think it works just fine for a grandmother name, but Parker and Alec, Bridget’s kids, call me Grandma Jojo at their mother’s insistence. I’ve also told my son that I want to be called Jojo when he has kids, but he’s not going for it. He said they will call me Nonna. Nonna is my mom and before that, my grandmother. I think I should be allowed to pick what I want to be called. Pffft.

Anyway, this past Friday was Grandparent’s Day at Parker and Alec’s school and it was also Parker’s 8th birthday so Bridget gave me plenty of notice that I needed to make the trip up to Fair Oaks to spend the day with them. Bridget has lost both parents to fucking cancer and their father’s parents live across the county so I was honored to step in. Bridget also asked if “Dad” could join me. She has taken to calling Mike “dad” of late since she thinks of me as “mom.” We even got an informational email prior to Friday addressed, “Dear Parents.” Neither of us is old enough to be her parents, especially Mike, but it’s cute.

We arrived at the school just as Bridget was texting us so Parker ran out and greeted us and escorted us to her classroom. As we walked in she proudly exclaimed to her 28 classmates and teacher, “Everybody, this is my Grandma Jojo and my Grandpa Mike.”

Grandpa Mike fitting in.

This was my first experience with a Waldorf School and it was impressive. The kids were very well-spoken, well-behaved, thoughtful, and allowed to climb trees.

A few more highlights. Alec’s outfit, getting warmly squeezed by Alec’s kindergarten teacher,  touring the school’s farm and garden, watching the kids perform a maypole dance and finally, seeing how happy Parker was to have us there made getting up at 5:30am and driving two+ hours more than worth it. Seeing little girls flock around Mike during recess made it well worth it, too.

Alec’s new daily fashion statement: Tucking his pants into knee socks.

Kids in Trees.

Happiest Birthday Girl!