Birthdays

"What would you like for your birthday, Anne-Marie?" I asked my granddaughter who is turning eight in a few days. We were on Face Time watching her baby brother open the gift we had sent for his birthday, which is 10 days before that of his big sister.

The little charmer turned her lovely green eyes toward the ceiling and thought a moment, then named something I couldn't quite make out. "What did you say?" I asked, to which she replied, quite clearly this time, "A Target Gift Card!" I laughed in surprise, and realized that she is becoming quite a sophisticated young lady!

Later, I asked her dad for some ideas , telling him I was thinking of getting her some books. He suggested some children's titles, which I found the other day. "I hope she likes them," I said as I spoke to him today.

"Yes, she's into reading," my son said. "She's been reading the Bible to us on the way to church. Right now she's in the Book of Job." Wow! I didn't know she was that sophisticated! I'm used to her serious, grown-up ways, though, since that is her personality. Perhaps it is partly because she is the oldest of the three children. Her dad said she is a thinker and a problem solver.

Maddie, 5, is a thinker, too, one who thinks outside the box! In her imaginative mind, anything is possible, even getting George Washington's autograph, which she requested recently. The other day she was heard pondering, "Why am I so smart? It must be my brain!"

Baby Isaac celebrated being a year old by terrifying his parents yesterday. Our son abruptly hung up the phone during our conversation saying, "I gotta go!" When he called back, he said Tammy had found Isaac at the top of the stairs! He was smiling proudly, as if to say "Look what I can do!" One more space to fence off!

I just found out that Anne-Marie will play Mary in the children's Christmas pageant at their church! She will be perfect for the role. I can just see her blonde tendrils escaping a demure, (probably) blue head covering surrounding her angelic face. Baby Jesus may not have had blonde hair like little Isaac, but by the time he was a year old, I'm sure He was keeping His mother on her toes!