SOL 19/31: It's the Little Things

When you hang out with little ones, you quickly realize that it's the little things that matter. Two little things are requested every time our grandsons visit. Colby Jack cheese is their favorite lunch choice. More than four years ago, I began using a blue Tupperware doo-dad (the kind of trinket won at a Tupperware party) to cut shapes in the cheese slices. When our numbers increased to two grandsons, I scrambled around for another cutter that would work well and pulled the orange cutter from a set of nested cookie cutters (also Tupperware) with a heart on one side and a scalloped circle on the other side. You can actually cut the circle and then cut the heart shape in the center of the circle. I put a plastic cutting board between the boys' lunch plates and they cut away to their heart's content. 

 

After lunch, we have a bit of play time before we head upstairs for quiet time. When quiet time is over, Jack always asks, "Grandma, did you put treats in the trolley?" The trolley refers to a tin of Ghiradelli chocolate that was gifted to me by a student after a trip to San Francisco. It's where I kept my sweet treats for those long days when a piece of chocolate was just the thing to help me get through the endless after-school tasks. Now it's where Grandma stashes the treats. Somehow, I've evolved to allow a certain amount of choice over what goes into the small plastic containers inside the trolley. I'll list the treats available: currently the favorite is Reese's Pieces and then they'll chose either a Reese's miniature peanut butter cup or minature Kit Kats (our chocolate hearts from February are gone). The trick is that the treats go into the plastic containers and then into the trolley tin so the boys can retrieve them. Yesterday, I made the mistake of filling the plastic container and handing it to one of the boys. That did not work! Half the fun is finding the treat in the trolley, even if you know it's going to be there and you've chosen what will be inside. After all, it's the little things that matter to my little people!

I tried to think of a third little thing that matters to my boys. However, when my husband brought in today's mail just now, it triggered a remembrance of a yearly tradition that started years ago with my daughter (the boys' mother) and me. Our community enjoys a yearly directory that is compiled by our local guild of Seattle Children's Hospital. It is a volunteer project published since 1943 to benefit the hospital. The directory always comes in a white envelope that is clearly labeled as to the contents inside. My daughter and I guess the color of the new directory each year before we open the envelope. I guess dusty rose. Daughter guesses yellow (which was the color I wanted, but didn't think they would use. I tear open the envelope and send a pic to daughter. 

This year's directory is pumpkin spice cinnamon, the color of Spunky, my first car. It appears that little traditions matter to the big people in our family too! 

This is my eleventh year of participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. This year I'll be mining my memories for stories to share.