Gemma

3 stories:

1. Gemma, William and I went to target this week for a quick errand. I was in line to pay when I heard giggling behind us. I turned around and Gemma was fully laying on the floor. Arms were splayed and feet were sliding back and forth. She was basically making a snow angel in the salt, sand, grit and dirt on the floor of the check out lane (recent ice and snow weather have made for an abundance of the salt and sand).

"She is so cute!" The couple behind us exclaimed.

She really is cute, but she is also exhausting.

I mustered up a smile and replied, "thank you- and thank goodness it is bath night tonight."

2. During the same target trip, I was speeding across the store to pick up the 2 required items. Gemma was thankfully riding in the cart (this is a huge battle these days).

As we rolled past an aisle, I spotted an adorable item we didn't need and slowed the cart to admire it.

Gemma spied something else. There was a family in the aisle looking at something. There was a man, woman, and two teenish aged males in the group.

"HI! HI! You are the brudder!" Gemma shrieked at the closed boy. He turned slowed, mouth agape at the wild haired toddler screaming at him. He looked at me and back at her. It was clear he had no idea how to handle the situation. I smiled as sunnily as one can at 7:30pm, murmured hello, shrugged my shoulders in Gemma's direction and then started rolling my cart away.

But, Gemma wasn't done.

"Hey! Hey! Hey". She is now furiously waving both hands and bellowing at the people behind the bewildered young man.

"YOU! ARE! THE! GRANDMA! YOU! ARE! THE GRANDPA!

She is clearly delighted to have pigeon holed this group and identified their familial roles.

She looks to me to congratulate her. She is quite proud.

There is no way to explain to her that it isn't polite to call just anyone Grandma or Grandpa. Especially when I suspect these adults are the parents of the teenagers, not the grandparents.

The whole group now has their attention focused on Gemma and I crank up my speed and plaster what I hope is a cheery grin on my face. Internally, I pray that her speech was not understandable to anyone but me.

3. We are at Costco, checking out*. The cashier greets is with an astonished face and says to Gemma, "Elsa! I didn't know you would be here today!"

Gemma turns to me and she clearly thinks this man is off his rocker. I prompt her, " Are you Elsa?"

"No," she replies. She is not Elsa.

"Well! I can see you are a special girl- maybe your name is Anna?"

Again, Gemma looks to me. I ask her, "are you Anna?"

Gemma replies no, she is not Anna. She also comes to stand behind my leg as she just isn't sure about this guy talking to her.

He then attempts to call her Doc McDtuffins and Princess Sofia. He is really being very sweet to her and managing to efficiently check out my groceries. I am impressed by his breadth of preschool girl knowledge.

Finally, Gemma turns to the cashier and says:

"I not those girls. I Gemma. G-E-M-M-A. Gemma."

She still pronounces her g's as d's, so her overall message is not clear to the employee.
I am impressed though- she can spell her name!


*I know it appears that I shop all the time.
This isn't exactly true. I avoid stores with kids whenever possible as either my sidekicks are badly behaved or crazy things are happening. Yet, we still must eat and wear clothing. My usual mode is to get in and get out. However, with my distracting partner/s with me, it isn't unusual to get home with only half of the needed items or empty handed, which then requires a return trip to the store to complete.
Sent from my iPhone