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Kathy Bohannon Columnist

Published Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Gifts for the grands

I'm excited about this brand new year.

By Christmas of 2012 Ninja Man and I will be grandparents of three and if my prediction is correct, there will be a fourth one on the way.

I enjoy predicting the fourth because it makes The Boy's eyes get huge and causes little dots of sweat to build up just a bit above his brow. It makes his wife Emily take a deep breath while shaking her head in a rapid "no way" motion. It cracks me up.

But there will be at least three, since our daughter Aubern and husband Ian will welcome baby Phoebe into the world this coming February. She should be ready to sit on Santa's lap by Christmas day and I have a whole year ahead of me to make all kinds of adorable matching dresses for her and The Boy's baby girl Briella.

As for grandson Asher, we pretty much hit the pinnacle for him this year with our gift of a racetrack that mounts on his bedroom wall. It was a very exciting gift and there's not much more we can do. Our work is done.

After opening his gifts, Asher led the trail of guys to his bedroom and picked the perfect wall for his daddy, Uncle Ian and Papa Bo to assemble and hang the network of tracks.

Little did Aunt Aubie, his mommy and I know there is a very special feature on the track that causes cars to shoot across the room. The idea is for the cars to land and continue on through the matrix of racecar land, but as Asher discovered, there was one other way to play with the toy. Shortly after installation he was busy feeding cars into the hopper thingie and watching them shoot up towards another piece of track. More than a few took another route; one of sheer abandon as they flew across the room and landed on the bed, in a chair or crashed into the wall.

With cars whizzing through the air, the three of us women looked at each other and saw the possibility of this not going well, particularly for The Boy and Emily who might actually be awakened in the middle of the night by toy cars shooting through the house. The rest of us could go home to a quiet place of rest and relaxation. A red convertible zoomed an inch from the ceiling fan. "That was awesome!" The Boy exclaimed which of course only encouraged Asher more and he gathered up a dozen or so cars from various parts of the room and reloaded them into the gizmo that is now and forever shall be known as the car shooter.

Much to Emily's dismay, Uncle Ian and Papa Bo were equally impressed and popped open the packaging on a few more cars. "Maybe for his birthday in January you guys can bring him something artistic," Emily suggested as her eyes followed a blue sedan as it shot from the track and barely missed Ian's head. "He just loves to paint and draw," she barely whispered just as Asher fed two Mini Coopers and a small ambulance into the hopper, then aimed the track at the closet door.

Realizing we'd given Asher a toy that doubles as a small arsenal, I had no idea of what to do next so I decided to make myself useful and began picking up the left over bags and boxes that were piling up as the men continued their assembly on the next part of the track.

Emily shook her head and watched in slight terror as her sweet little boy shot a dozen more cars across the room and laughed so hard he fell over. The men did the same. Clearly they were having a serious bonding moment that would become a cherished Christmas memory for many years to come.

"Hey, Papa Bo," Asher might say as he sits at the table across from his grandpa, "Remember just before my third birthday when you gave me that racetrack, the one that shot cars across the room? That was the coolest toy ever!" Papa Bo might straighten in his chair, proud of knowing he gave the Ashman his first truly memorable toy. The fact that he had to help replace more than a few panes of glass from the bedroom windows wouldn't matter at all by then.

There will be birthdays and other special occasions in which we will give gifts to our grandchildren. I have plans such as working on baby books, knitting and sewing for all three grand babes. Asher's birthday is in just a few weeks and though it will be hard to give him something he would enjoy more than his car-shooter, I think I'll try to find a box of finger paints and maybe some coloring books.

Come to think of it I should probably toss in a helmet for him and his baby sister, just in case the art supplies aren't quite as stimulating as flying cars. I can't wait till next Christmas.

•••

(Kathy Bohannon can be reached at kathybohan@yahoo.com .)

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