Life with Melina – Hubble Bubble Hugs and Trouble
Bubbles
Melina is back, well, she never really left!
Melina is my three year old granddaughter, the star of our family, our first and only grandchild, (So far!).
Luckily, she lives close by to us and so, we see her most days.
Melina
Come summer though, whilst her Mother is working, I have her to myself, sometimes for twelve hour stints!
This is the fourth summer for, Melina and Me, how quickly small children grow up, last year, she was still a baby and this year she’s a little girl.
, Mel & her dad
I’m sad that last year’s total innocence and lack of self consciousness has passed but this has been replaced with the ability to have long (understandable!) conversations, no more nappies, no hauling the kitchen sink with us, when we take her out for the day, and, she doesn’t need my one hundred percent attention, she can amuse herself.
Family
Yesterday, listening, as she sang to her doll, while putting it to bed, nearly brought a tear to my eye, but only for a second, she made me howl with laughter, when she later, accidentally knocked it off the sofa and exclaimed:
“Be careful, you’ll crack your skull”
This year, she can blow her own bubbles; I spent all last year blowing them for her!
I’m forever blowing bubbles!
We go through rather a lot of bubbles, in her excitement, she forgets to hold the bottle upright and half of the solution ends up on the ground, the dogs or on her clothes!
Bubbles are her absolute favourite thing, and who can blame her?
Look, I can blow bubbles!
I can’t think of bubbles, without the beautiful painting by Millais, “Bubbles” coming to mind, and Pears translucent soap, (for which the painting was used in advertising pears soap) and my grandmother, who used this soap, my other grandmother used Cussons Imperial Leather, what funny little details we do remember!
“Bubbles” by Millais
How wonderful to see rainbow-coloured bubbles floating through the air, blown this way and that on the breeze, and, even more wonderful to watch the look of sheer joy on Melina’s face, as she chases after them, shouting
“Catch them Yiayia (Grandma), catch them”.
The simplest things can bring so much happiness.
Me…and bubbles!
Poor MGG (My Greek God), makes so many trips to the supermarket for bubbles, which, by the way, is one of Melina’s English words, another, is sausage, she loves sausages!
She’s picked up quite a few English words, and peppers her Greek with them; I really will have to start speaking to her more in English: get them while they’re young!
Melina can wind MGG around her little finger, he adores her, and she adores him, when once asked who her best friend was, she replied “My grandpa Tassos”.
I so wish he had been with us to hear that.
I did tell him, but it’s not the same as hearing it yourself is it?
I just love this picture of the two of them, taken the summer before last.
Best friends
Mel is such an affectionate little thing, one of the best feelings in the world, is when she stops whatever she happens to be doing, and runs to give me a hug, for no reason and just as suddenly, goes back to what she was up to, or when, quietly sitting next to me, she strokes my hand.
On seeing my friend the other day, Melina was quite shy, and didn’t say hello, but later on that evening, whilst reading her a story, out of the blue, she said to me:
“Yiayia, do you think Rosie was sad because I didn’t say good Morning to her? Tell her that next time, I’ll give her a hug”
It must have been on her mind all day, so, Rosie, don’t be sad, you’re in line for a hug!
She can so make my heart want to burst with things like this; she can also make me want to scream as much as she does when she has one of her tantrums!
We’ve all been there, they can be set off by the slightest little thing, she doesn’t like that dress, or that pair of shoes, or no, she’s not leaving the swings yet.
I try everything, cajoling, blackmail, but nine times out of ten, I give in, wrong, I know, but what are grandmas for?
Off on our travels
Mel loves the harbour, she knows all the local fishermen, in fact, Mel is well known all over Loutraki!
Loutraki Harbour
Just look what we saw yesterday, lovely fresh fish, straight off the boat!
Before heading home, we always stop for coffee, well, I have the coffee, Mel has orange juice.
Coffee break
They say that age brings wisdom, or is it, with experience comes knowledge?
Either way, the mistakes I made with my own children, I shall try not to repeat with Melina, but then again, being a mother and being a grandmother, I think, are two completely different things.
