April 19, 2011

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be Like June

Everything important in life I'm learning from my granddaughters June and Violet.

Life lessons from a 3 year old

Lesson One:
Laugh when you want to - I am always amazed at how much these two little girls laugh. June laughs at everything she thinks is funny. She laughs at Porter when he rolls on his back and when he snores, she laughs at Violet when she crosses her eyes, she laughs at Dave (Papa) when he has a grouchy face. She is one happy girl, I think we should all just laugh when we want to and not worry about what everyone else might think of us if we do.

Lesson Two:
Be Polite - June is the most polite girl I know. When she should have been in her terrible 2's and saying "NO!!" to everything, she would quietly and politely say "No thanks, it's not good for me." One day Zech and Alex were fighting and she said. "Now Zech, you be nice you 2 should not fight." Or if they are being too loud she will say, "Shhhh, please use your inside voice." We should all learn to calmly tell people the things that are on our mind. She always says please and thank you, and she will always politely ask for what she wants. Which leads to Lesson Three.

Lesson Three:
Know what you want and ask for it - When June wants something she will just ask and she always knows what she wants. If I give her mac and cheese for lunch, and she doesn't feel like mac and cheese she will say, "No thank you I would like a tuna sandwich." Which of course I give her. So, it's good to know what you want in life because if you aren't afraid to ask for it,you just might get it.

Lesson Four:
Love to read and learn - June can set for hours and look at books and she has always loved to have books read to her since she was a baby. She's got a memory like an elephant and so she can learn quickly. Some of the books we have read together since she was young, she can sit and say all the words. If you didn't know she can't read you would swear she is reading by herself. We should all take time each day to read, you never know what you might learn.

Lesson Five:
Ask lots of questions - Because June likes to read and learn she asks a lot of questions. The other day she asked me, "Grandma, what planet do you live on?" While this may seem funny from someone else, coming from June I knew she was serious. I said, "I live on earth." He eyes got big and very excitedly she said, "I live on earth to. Did you know it is a planet and it orbits around the sun?" She got that bit of knowledge from a book her Papa got her from MIT about the solar system. She also wanted to know what my favorite element was, another book from her MIT Papa on the Periodic Table. Her favorite elements are Titanium and Mercury. Don't be afraid to ask questions, because there are no stupid questions and sometime your questions will show how smart you are.

Lesson Six:
Sleep when you need it - June loves to sleep. She has always taken a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Now lately she has tried to talk me into not taking a nap, today she said, "Grandma, I don't think I need a nap today, I can just sleep tonight after I eat supper." Nice argument but it didn't work. I said no, she said O.K. and slept her usual 3 hours. I think we should all sleep more. I would love to say we all need a nap in the afternoon but I don't think that would go over very well with Dave. I'll run it by him and let you know what he says.

Lesson Seven:
Say nice things to people - June will say the nicest things to me. Today she said, "Grandma I love your nail polish." She will tell me my shoes are nice or my hair is nice. She pats Porter on the head and tells him he's a good dog. She uses words like beautiful and great and pretty and nice and wonderful. She compliments the people around her all the time. We all need to say nice things to the people around us, it can really make their day brighter.

Lesson Eight:
When you fall down, just get back up - June has always been a tough little girl. Whenever she falls down, she just gets right back up and says, "I'm O.K.!" Sometimes she really does hurt herself, there are cuts, bruises, scrapes, and bumps but even when there are a few tears in her eyes, she will say, "I'm O.K." Life is hard and there will be bumps along the way we all should be like June and just get right back up.

So laugh at something today, be polite, read and learn, ask some questions, figure out what you want you want in life, say something nice to someone, go home and get some sleep, and if you get knocked down today just get back up and say out loud, "I'm O.K.!"

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