March 21, 2020

For my Grandson Beckham:

We survived our first week together of the Pandemic of 2020. You, my darling boy are only 16-months-old when Mimi's school and your daycare closed. Your Momma is a nurse - she will be a hero many times over after this is all in the past  - and your Daddy works in IT at Publix Supermarkets (he will be a hero too because people have to buy groceries), so Mimi enthusiastically agreed to watch over you while they continued to work through this crisis.

The title of this blog is a little word play on a book called 'Love in the Time of Cholera,' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Music Time - Youtube

I decided after our first week together to write about our adventures and the unprecedented events happening in the world around us. You will be too young to remember, but someday, in a Social Studies or History class you will read about the Pandemic of 2020 and you will be able to say, 'My Mimi wrote a blog just for me!' And if, God forbid, I don't survive this Pandemic, let these words remind you how much your Mimi adored you from the second you were born.

The basics: The Coronavirus or COVID-19 started in Wuhan Province of China towards the end of December/2019. I'll let you research the details if thats what you choose to do some day. The virus is 'flu-like' in nature but with an added symptom of severe pneumonia/respiratory illness. People started dying. The virus spread alarmingly and the first case in the U.S. was reported towards the end of February/2020. By the middle of March, schools closed, daycares closed and then things got really bad. As of this writing the states of New York and California are 'closed,' businesses all over the country have closed their doors and people are encouraged to distance socially and self-quarantine (two terms that didn't really exist until a few weeks ago). Donald Trump is President (don't blame me or the 65 million Americans who DID NOT vote for him); history will not be kind to this man and his alarming lack of leadership skills in this Pandemic. "I take no responsibility," will go down in history the same as "I am not a crook."

52 pick up still works!

The upside to all of this? I see your smiling little face at 630am each weekday morning! Let me just say right now that no matter how you turn out later in life, regardless of your temperament thirty years from now or the fact you might be a curmudgeonly old man...you are the most pleasant, sweet-natured toddler I've ever cared for.

Your Momma insisted we follow your daycare schedule - which she meticulously laid out for me hour by hour and texted the night before your first day at Mimi and Gramps. I agreed; now more than ever we needed a schedule. Your little world was turned upside down by the Pandemic of 2020 and future generations will be defined by the drastic measure we all had to take.

First order of business on the schedule is breakfast! You love Mimi's french toast! You also love strawberries, grapes, my banana bread and muffins. You are a Little Man who loves to eat and I predict your Momma and Daddy will need second jobs just to feed you as you grow into a teenager. After breakfast, we sit on the screened porch and 'listen' to the morning become day. You learned to say 'bird,' and 'tweet' by sitting and listening to the birds sing their songs of welcome to the new day.

Your Momma even wrote 'playtime' on the schedule like I didn't know toddlers were supposed to play. I keep reminding her that I raised her and she turned out just fine; she knew how to READ before she got to kindergarten. THAT didn't happen by accident. So we play; you have lots of toys at Mimi's house but your favorite is the race track I gave you for Christmas/2019. When the little car makes the last loop down the track a catchy tune plays and you start dancing!

Painting the litter 'A'

Art, music, and learning are next on the schedule - my favorite, and apparently yours too. While we color (Momma printed out color sheets with the letter A, B, and C in order to incorporate the learning part), we listen to music (thank you Amazon Prime Music) and you love to dance. Real quick, the traditional nursery rhyme songs got on my nerves so we switched to Kid Bopz. Then we started dancing and my G-Baby has moves! I hope someday when you start to notice girls - and you will - you feel confident enough to ask her to dance. Just remember your Mimi encouraged you at an early age.

Helping Gramps

"Mooooooo!"

You love to watch anyone cooking or baking!

The best part of the day is outside time. Mimi and Gramps live in a gated community that is surrounded on three sides by wide open cow pasture. The first thing you say when you walk in the house is 'Mooooo.' We walk - or you are pushed in the stroller - to whichever pasture they are in that day. You are fascinated; there is no Disney attraction that can hold your attention like a real-live, giant, smelly cow up close! We sit for an hour or more twice a day (because outside time appears 2X on the schedule) to watch the cows. You point and 'Mooooo!' I'm grateful for this time as Mimi is required to slow down as well. My focus this week has narrowed to the present moment with the wonderment of you in this world and your fascination of all things new. This is why grandkids are so special; when I was in charge of your Momma and her sister, I had no clue what I was doing and I was tasked with figuring out who I was as a parent. Not so with you Beckham.

Mimi's Wingman

You received your first motorcycle in December/2019 and you insist on riding everyday. You learned to say 'bike' and 'car' and the fact the bike goes 'vroom, vroom!'

Our week went like this each day. Your nap-time is 1230-330p or thereabouts. You even put yourself down for a nap! That is when Mimi grabs a book and lays down to read (or nap too). After your post-nap snack (seriously, you play, eat, sleep, snack, repeat) it is time to make the short drive home to see Momma, Daddy and Blue. Mimi retreats home to rest because we do it all again the next day!

This is Mimi Love in the Time of COVID-19!

(Scroll down for videos)