The JBP Chronicles, by Grammy

Dear Family and Friends,

August is over. It's September and still hot! Outrage! I will never get completely resigned to living in a hot place.

On the ohter hand, JBP is here, and he's a real cool kid. Just read on, and I think you'll agree.

Hugs,
Grammy


Fri., Aug. 19, 2005
School started for me today. I have met the 7:30 class and have another at 10:30. JBP saw me dressed up this morning (I've been going to work in shorts all summer) and asked, "Is today Sabbath?" Come to think of it, I LIKE going to work in shorts in the summer. If only I didn't have to teach and could make a living from writing alone...

Today is the day his mamma has off. For the last two days she has had to do double shifts for the Serial Killer's sentencing. (Good news -- he is not eligible for parole for 175 years.) Listening to the testimony in the trial of this confessed serial killer was bad enough. In the sentencing phase, a lot more stuff came out about his sexual fantasies and treatment of his victims.

After the first day of it, Nimitz' Lady said, "I need a bath." I wasn't able to stand to listen to more than a few minutes. And, of course, we didn't want it on when JBP could hear.

JBP came to work with me last Wednesday. I say "work," but I wasn't working. I was typing the church bulletin. JBP brought some toys and promised that he would not be bored. Within minutes he had reduced his Dollar Store golf club and ball to ruins.

He didn't want to play with the other toys he had brought. I made enlarged photocopies of some of the pix in his mini-coloring book, and that kept him busy for awhile. Then he kept running into the hall and departmental office to talk to people who were trying to work.

Finally, I found some bagels in the workroom, left over from Tuesday's meeting with the Teaching Assistants (TA's). After that, JBP, who hadn't eaten much all morning, happily munched bagels. At one point he raised his head long enough to say, "I'm so busy eating, I don't even notice that I'm bored."

Tues., Aug. 23, 2005
JBP has a habit of talking about things he has known or wanted "for a long time, since I was a little tid (kid)."

Last night I woke up at midnight and couldn't get back to sleep. I turned on the light and began to read. Eventually -- about 3:00 -- I started to get sleepy, so I rolled over onto my side. I felt what I thought was a cat climbing up onto the couch (I sleep on the recliner in the family room -- can't sleep in a bed yet, since my accidient). It wasn't a cat -- it was JBP. He snuggled against my back and finally fell asleep about 4:00. I then transferred to the longer part of the sectional couch for the rest of the night. Even that is not very good -- I woke up stiff. JBP was still snoozing when his daddy and I left for work this morning.


Speaking of leaving for work: usually, JBP is eager to give us hugs and kisses, even demands to do so. Yesterday, he just sat on the couch, watching TV, and said a casual "goodbye." It's scary. If an active kid like JBP can be so mesmerized by TV, what about less active children? I'm so glad his mamma limits his TV-watching to 1 1/2 hours a day.

Nimitz' Lady and JBP have found the a/c in the church so chilly that they have started taking light shawls with them. (I find the a/c just right.) JBP co-opted his mamma's green-and-burgundy shawl for himself. When he got home, he kept having us tie it around his neck like a cape. Then he raced through the house, making the cape fly out behind him, calling, "I'm a super hero!"

Wed., Aug. 24, 2005
Poor JBP woke up sick this morning. He vomited two or three times. His mamma has to go to the dentist in a few minutes, and I have class, so I couldn't stay home with him. I hope he will be all right, poor little tyke. He complained about his stomach yesterday.

My Son-in-law thinks it's the last watermelon I bought. He said he had some for breakfast, and he's nauseated, too. But I didn't get sick from it, and if anything will make anybody sick to their stomach, it will get me. So I think it's just that they both have a bug, and eating bothered it.

Thurs., Aug. 25, 2005
Yesterday afternoon I went home to stay with JBP. He was feeling better, but his mamma didn't think it was a good idea to send him to daycare.

On the way home, we discussed the watermelon theory. Since my Son-in-law thinks it made him sick, I said, "Great. That's a lot of watermelon for me." "I already threw it out," said Nimitz' Lady, ruining my day.

So after Nimitz' Lady went to work, JBP and I started to make chocolate chocolate-chip cookies. Then he stopped helping. "It's too hard," he said. "You know what the Little Red Hen said," I reminded him. "When it was done, she didn't want to share," said JBP glumly. "He who doesn't work, doesn't eat, you know," I pontificated.

"Hello," said JBP the lawyer, "when she got it ready, she shared it with her chicks. I'm part of your chicks." He had me there.

Fri., Aug. 26, 2005
JBP had a good day yesterday. He got his quilts back from the sewing place. Our friend Jenny had given him two lovely handmade quilts, but they weren't hemmed yet. We finally got them done, and JBP is thrilled. He used the Spiderman quilt last night, and he's taking Animal quilt with him to Germany. Unless he changes his mind and switches.

He also got the use of his bike again. For a long time, I've meant to take it to the bike shop and get the front tire replaced. We got there just after 6:00. They had already closed, but they opened up for us (they are so nice!) and put in a heavy-duty tube. The guy said that's all that we needed.

We went home, and JBP spent the next hour and a half riding like crazy up and down the cul-de-sac with three other kids in our neighborhood. He was a happy boy!

Now he wants me to buy his mamma a bike for her birthday (I wish I could), "so we tan ride 'em together."

Monday, Aug. 29, 2005
JBP had a great Sabbath. Six-month-old Nathaniel and his mamma, Veggiegrrl, came to dinner. Pastor Jay was away at a retreat. After Sabbath School, I went to the Kindergarten classroom, to have JBP run in and call urgently, "Grammaw, tum to Miss Tendra's room!" So I crossed the hall to the pastor's study. Veggiegrrl had Nathaniel on a blanket on the floor, where he had been napping. He was awake now, and JBP was playing with him.

JBP wore his shawl cape-style when we went into church. But when he went to his Sabbath School class, we had him take it off.

JBP was very good in church, except near the end of the sermon. He was in the bathroom (we meet in the gym of a former school, so the restrooms are right off the meeting room), and just as he started to open the door, another little boy entered. Startled, JBP screamed bloody murder, which set the other little boy to screaming, too. It rather startled the preacher. It made Nimits' Lady and me want to sink through the floor.

When Nimitz' Lady came, she had to transfer JBP's carseat to Veggiegrrl's car, so JBP could ride home with Nathaniel.

After Sabbath dinner, JBP played with the baby, and they had a great time together. In Korea, Nathaniel had an older foster brother who played with him. I actually got to hold him quite a lot, and I thoroughly enjoyed that.

JBP freely and correctly uses words like "survive," "recycling" and "exterminate." But he calls me "Grammaw" now, says "buh-detti" for "spaghetti" and insists on "anniversary" for "university." He usually tries to get words right and practices them.

Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005
Now we have to keep JBP from hearing reports on Hurricane Katrina. No point in giving him nightmares.

Yesterday when his Daddy said, "Dont eat in the car..." JBP finished instructionally, "...because the tar's not a trash can."

He sat in his carseat and babbled away about daycare and its rules. I swear I heard him say, "They're wrong, and I'm right, but you have to keep the rules they put in."

He is such a know-it-all. Sunday I was loading the dishwasher, and he exclaimed, "No! You're doing it all wrong!" I had to tell him in no uncertain terms that I would load the dishwasher the way I chose. Yesterday Nimitz' Lady was reading aloud an article in a magzine, and JBP said, "They're all wrong!" And this kid will someday be a teenager!

On Sunday we stopped at the Cold Stone Creamery to buy some specially mixed ice cream. NImitz' Lady got cheesecake ice cream mixed with caramel and fudge, etc.
I chose mocha ice cream and asked for chocolate shavings to be mixed in. Nimitz' Lady also got JBP a small dish of blueberry ice cream with sprinkles mixed in.

JBP was holding his ice cream, looking flustered, so I suggested he sit at a table. He went outside (I held the door), and almost immediately came back in. "I can't be out there alone." He is so good about remembering rules!

So I shoved my money at Nimitz' Lady and went out with JBP. He had quite a job
catching the ice cream that insisted on melting over the side of the dish in the intense heat. He couldn't finish it all, so Nimitz' Lady snagged a bigger styrofoam dish and put his inside it. At home, she put it in the freezer. JBP finally managed to finish it by Monday evening.

Nimitz' Lady's birthday is tomorrow, so JBP and I went gift shopping last night.
My Son-in-law drove. First we went to the Dollar Tree so JBP could get his present for his mamma. He said, "I'm gonna get a toy for me and a present for Mamma. First,
I'm gonna get the present."

Of course, as soon as we got there, he tried to pick out a toy for her from the display on the sidewalk. We urged him inside, and he wanted to buy the first thing he saw: a mug. His daddy said, "We are overrun with mugs." So we walked around the store, and JBP asked my advice. "She likes things for her skin," I said.

"Yeah, somefing for her skin! Where is it?" So we found the aisle with body
lotion, and JBP picked out a bottle. Then he ran back out to the sidewalk and picked out his toy -- a bug-catcher with a big magnifying glass. He had more fun with that magnifying glass all evening!

He also enthusiastically helped pick out a couple of gift bags for our presents for Mamma. But he was so eager to play with his bug-catcher that he left both his money
and Mamma's present in the car. My Son-in-law brought them in this morning, and I
stashed them in my room.

Wed., Aug. 31, 2005
Today is Nimitz' Lady's birthday. JBP woke up about 6:30, but his mamma (who got called back to work at 2:30 a.m. because of a train derailment and a 3-alarm fire) made him stay in bed until 7. As soon as she told him it was 7:00, JBP hopped out of bed, ran into his parents' room and flopped on the bed next to Nimitz' Lady, to watch TV.

I stood in the living room and called JBP, waving the gift bag at him. When he caught sight of it, he hopped down, ran out and grabbed the present. He ran back into the bedroom, calling, "Here, Mamma!" He handed her the gift bag and then climbed up on her back to watch her open it.

Recently, a woman at my Son-in-law's job gave him three little cars for JBP. My Son-in-law gave them to JBP one at a time. Now, JBP keeps looking for more. When we picked him up at daycare last night, he asked, "Do you have a tar for me today?"
My Son-in-law, exasperated at this oft-repeated question, said, "Just because you got lucky three times, doesn't mean you should keep asking." Irrepressible, JBP asked, "Am I lucky today?"

Fri., Sept. 2, 2005
Wednesday evening, JBP played with his magnifying glass, using it as a golf club. Needless to say, it is now in pieces in the trash.

When his daddy walked the dogs, JBP hopped on his little bike and rode along. He did that one other time this week, too. Yet another day, he walked along with Daddy, and one day not too long ago, JBP actually got to walk Se while Daddy walked Ja! As they neared home, they met Mamma, driving home for supper. JBP called, "Mamma! I'm walking Se!"


My new recliner came in the afternoon and was set up in my room. As soon as JBP and Mamma came home, he wanted to sit in it. I let him, and he reclined it and rocked it. Then I made him get out. His mamma has told him that this is Grammy's bed; it is NOT a toy. I shut my bedroom door when I left this morning.

Not just to keep JBP out, but also to keep the Chicken Cat out. Sa, the young cat, has claimed my office chair as hers. She has clawed the seat and back into tatters. Last night, I woke several times to find a cat taking up one side of the recliner, which is scarcely big enough for me to begin with. I may have to shut her out at night, though I hate to do that. But I MUST sleep. I slept for NINE HOURS last night! Wonderful!

Yesterday evening, we all went to dinner with our friend and her daughter who is one year older than JBP. They are moving out of state this weekend, so the dinner was a farewell for them and a birthday dinner for Nimitz' Lady. We went to P. F. Chang's on the shore of a little artificial lake.

JBP pulled his chair over so close to the little girl's he was practically sitting on her lap. After dinner, at JBP's request, I went out with the two of them to look at the fountain in the middle of the artificial lake. Coming back, they held hands; My Son-in-law got a picture.

As we all walked toward the parking lot, JBP told his little friend he didn't want her to go away. She said, "I don't want to go, but I have to." "I won't let you," averred JBP. This soon evolved into a game of chase that had both kids laughing.

Then all the women hugged goodbye. JBP refused to hug his little friend goodbye; he just turned his face away and looked sad and stubborn at once. He's good at that. He eventually did give in though and they hugged good-bye.

Yesterday afternoon, JBP spent three hours with his mamma, just outside the TV station, loading food, water and diapers onto a semi. JBP was inside the truck, moving the supplies into place with a mini-forklift. He had fun! And he worked hard, too. When they got home, he told me, "I got a muscle, doing that."

Four semis full of goods left last night to add to the hurricane relief effort. (By the end of the effort, we were up to 35 truck loads of goods and more than $1.3 raised! -Nimitz' Lady)

In the early morning, I had worked on the phone bank inside the TV station, accepting donations and telling people where to mail their checks. In 24 hours, $100,000 was raised. The station worked with a local supermarket chain on the food collection and with the Salvation Army on the collection of money.

Our Town has done well. In addition to our phone collections, Boeing workers contributed $100,000, and a company whose name I can't remember contributed another $100,000. Koch Industries contributed $250,000 and said it would match employees' donations up to $1 million. An anonymous individual gave $250,000.

One of my students said this morning that she had seen me on TV at the phones. And the dept. secretary said she had seen me, too. I kept checking in the afternoon, but I didn't see Nimitz' Lady and JBP. My sister, LBails, saw them both.

JBP has been part of something big and good, and he is learning already to enjoy helping others. That's my boy!