She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain When She Comes
July 2, 2008
I did get the day off. (Boss decided to be nice. Don’t get her in trouble.)Actually, Random Granddaughter won’t be coming round the mountain, she’ll be coming round the ferry dock when she comes.
RG is coming to visit. Grandma worked herself into a frenzy last night, cleaning and making the house spotless, and then fell into bed exhausted.
Now that I understand RG’s introvert nature, I will not greet her too effusively when she arrives. She will look under the couch and pull out the train and the wooden blocks and build a train station so the train is decently stationed, and then she will be ready to to say hello to Grandma and Grandpa.
Grandma fixed some chicken salad. She is going to fix some plain chicken as well, as RG does not want her lunch contaminated by inappropriate mixing of ingredients, especialy salad type ingredients, food no decent person eats.
RG is gradually getting us trained, though it’s an uphill slog all the way.
As she is so finicky, temperamental, and moody about food, I expect some day she will become a famous chef. If she serves you a meal and you decide it’s not to your liking, she will come after you with a cleaver.
Both my wife and I have bad tempers. RG’s bad temper is another non-genetic way she takes after her grandparents.
She will visit the Friendly Neighbors to see their new family additions: chickens and ducks.
I will tell you what really happens.
July 2, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I’m with RG in that I don’t like the indiscriminate mixing of ingredients. I sometimes build an invisible wall between my food groups right on my plate. The only exception to this rule would be gravy, which can be spilled on everything, including the candied yams.
I’m also like RG in that if you don’t like my food, look out. One time, in another marriage, my ex decided to take a wild chance and tell me that my pot roast was not as good as his mother’s. I picked up the pot roast and threw it in the garbage. Another time, he dissed my homemade pancakes and I threw them in his lap.
To his credit, I must admit that I was probably a mediocre to horrible cook back then. I’ve come a long way, baby.
July 2, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Nurture is just as important in the formation of a child’s personality as DNA. I had a horrible temper as a small child, and I’ve improved . . . mostly. Now I’m just ridiculously stubborn and strong willed. Being around small children is always challenging as they are highly sensitive and completely unique. She’s lucky to have such caring grandparents!
July 2, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Pandemonic’s comment cracked me up. Apparently “eat it or wear it” was the motto for that particular marriage.
July 2, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Thanks, David. I don’t write about that marriage at all, but now I think I will…
July 3, 2008 at 2:42 am
I think I’m a pretty decent cook. In fact, my cooking started at a fairly young age when I was left to babysit all of my nieces and nephews. In my family, you weren’t supposed to be paid to watch your sister’s kids, it was just a given. It didn’t, however, help that they also left me with no food or money to buy them food. And these little buggers could eat! One day, short on cash but surrounded by hungry little mouths, I rummaged through the pantry only to find a can of peas, a can of cream of chicken and several packets of Ramen noodles. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you but those kids thought it was the bee’s knees when I was through with it! It became a staple in our house to always have peas, Ramen, and some kind of cream of something! How to feed 6 kids under $5!
I hope RG likes her chicken. If she doesn’t, may I suggest my recipe? 
July 3, 2008 at 5:36 am
I love the fact that you, as grandparents, are willing to modify your behaviour just as much as you expect RG to learn to modify hers, in order for you all to get along the best way possible. Most grown-ups kind of forget that they’re not perfect when they meet kids, and expect the kids to do all the adjusting.
July 4, 2008 at 1:48 am
Waiting to hear if GR is receptive to the chickens and ducks. My batting average is slightly below that of Ted WIlliams coming in at .403. This blog is called Modesty Press, right??
July 4, 2008 at 1:49 am
Who is GR? I meant RG.
July 4, 2008 at 2:37 am
pandemonic and David: See my forthcoming post on my new cookbook publishing company.
waxingstrange: see my forthcoming post (eventually) on gardening with children, a nursery plan.
vroni: See my forthcoming post on my cookbook publishing company. (RG decided on scrambled eggs instead of chicken. However, that’s still a chicken theme now that I think about it.)
truce: a) I am not very grownup. I suspect this is true of most people who consider themselves adults; however, I have a small clue of this. b) My wife and I remind each other all the time that we are not perfect. We consider there is no reason why RG cannot join in this fun game. Her mommies also play Are there any adults in this room? I didn’t think so as well.
Spectrum: “RG” is Random Granddaughter. She had a good time with the ducks and chickens, and they seemed to take to her as well. More on her adventures about poultry when I get to it, but I’m going to start my cookbook publishing company first.