HALLIE EPHRON: This Christmas I got gifts from my grandchildren.
From my granddaughter, I got a package of press-on nails.
As you might imagine, this gift says more about her than it does about me. She is obsessed with her nails. There are shops stores near her in Brooklyn that sell nails. That’s it. Full stop. Press-on nails in an amazing range of colors and designs.
This is from my grandgirl who’s a gymnast and a competitive swimmer and who opted for a STEM-focused junior high. She saves up her pennies to buy nails, nails, and more nails.
Go figure.
So far I have not attempted to put on the nails she gave me. I’m waiting until she visits here or I’m in Brooklyn and she can guide me in the fine art. Bonding experiences are not to be passed up.
My grandson aso gave me a Christmas gift. This amazing fantastic and wonderful picture, which tells you as much about HIM as my granddaughter’s gift tells about her. I’m quite sure he’ll be wanting a motorcycle when he gets to be his sister’s age. And OMG hasn't he got talent!?! (He's 9.)
This got me thinking back to when I was my granddaughter's age. I was seriously into makeup. “Flesh” colored lipstick. Fake eyelashes and eyeliner. We rouged our cheeks and teased (and sprayed) our hair so it stood out like an astronaut’s helmet.
And somehow I survived.
Do you have youngsters in your extended family who are spreading their wings and proclaiming their identities through their arts?
Our grandchildren have many talents . . . one is a talented musician, another is a delightful story-teller, and another loves to draw . . . .
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't it fun watching them "become" whatever it is that they'll be...
DeleteIt most certainly is . . . .
DeleteVery wise of you to do nails together with her next time! And the boy is following in his grandfather's footsteps.
ReplyDeleteMy little one is still figuring out balance and walking, but she's quite opinionated on which books she wants read to her. I get to see my goddaughter's kiddos this afternoon and we'll see what art eight-year old Cosima is currently into.
Oh... the sit-in-my-lap and read-to-me stage is so lovely! Though reading the same book over and over and over (and the kiddo chastisiing you if you "forget" to read even a single word) can be exhausting.
DeleteI remember the days of trying to pull off the abbreviated version - and my sons not standing for it! So far, Ida Rose and I are both happy with multiple readings of Cranky Bird and all the different voices I make up for each animal.
DeleteMy favorite time with all of them has been the cuddle up and read stage. Precious memories.
DeleteWe have three grandsons. Two live at the Delaware shore and one lives north of Boston. The oldest, who will turn 14 this month, is so talented and athletic that we are constantly impressed. He is artistic, musically talented and yesterday, at a school track meet, ran the mile in under 5 minutes. I wish I could claim it was my genes in there, but alas, we are not blood relations. All three are boisterous, over-the-top noisy kids, like you expect from "boys." His younger brother is athletic, too, and his antics have had us quietly comparing him to John Belucci since he was about 3. Our Boston boy will be 8 later this month. He is more into individual activities, bike riding, swimming, and skiing. They all have a lot of growing to do and choices to make. While the difference in their ages isn't that great, our abilities to keep up with them have changed dramatically since the start of the pandemic. I am afraid that the youngest has not had our best and that makes me feel a bit sad.
ReplyDeleteThe pandemic worked oppositely for us - we became the kids' teachers via Facetime. It was that cruccial time when my grandson was learning to read .
DeleteBam bam!! Monster trucks: sigh. My grandson, too.
ReplyDeleteJust having loving grandchildren is all the gifts I need!
ReplyDeleteWho knew?!? I feel so lucky to have them.
DeleteThose nails are so pretty, just love the bows and pearls! My sister and her daughter are fanatics for all things fingernail, and I'm always checking out the new colors when I see them. Me, on the other hand (nyuk, nyuk)--my nails are currently as short as I can get them because of gardening. No matter what gloves I wear they still get broken and full of dirt. How is that possible?
ReplyDeleteYour grandboy has Jerry's drawing talent! What a sweet gift.
My grandson has been playing alto sax for a long time. Wanting to be able to practice and play without bothering anyone else (at home, at school, and now in an apartment), he bought an electronic sax, with headphones. Did you know there was such a thing? Neither did I! And he's now dyed his black hair platinum blond. I do a double take every time I see him.
By the way, I am marching today in the Hands Off! rally. Is anyone else? So far, more than 1.5 million have registered, but I know people who are planning to attend who didn't bother to sign up. Stay safe, friends!
ReplyDeleteMe too Karen. Forecast here is mostly cloudy with sunbreaks. Perfect weather for a good protest.
DeleteAwesome! It's going to pour rain here. I don't care.
DeleteDemonstrations here in Boston, too - 11-2 - bring an umbrella! There will be a bit rainy. https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/event/764606/
DeleteYes! We have one in our town (a block away) that I'm opting for over spending the rainy day in Boston.
DeleteI would like to do so, but am torn--supposed to be working all day, but have a family crisis as well. Have been sending emails, calling reps, reposting information--whatever I can think of.
DeleteI'll have to march around the house. Irwin brought home some cruddy cold and now I am lying around, drinking hot tea and nursing a sore throat. Boo-hoo.
DeleteJudy, I am sick too! My doctor wants me to come in for lab tests. It is really strange because this is very different from the other times. Pretty sure it is Not Covid. I suspect a little bug flew into my nose and caused this much pain. Who knows? Headache, cheek / jaw pain and sinus pressure from the headache.
DeleteNo grands yet. I hope someday. No matter what, they will have their own opinions about everything.
ReplyDeleteOpinions!!! Absolutely. And from very early on.
DeleteThis may be a bit disturbing for some of you so feel free to just skip over to the next comment, but your post brought back a memory of a person I would sincerely like to forget. (And, no, it is not a member of my extended family, thank goodness.) In my life I have known some pretty sketchy characters, one of whom was a sociopathic thief. As a young child he was obsessed with Frankenstein movies., which also aroused his curiosity. He began catching animals, dissecting them, then putting the pieces together to see if he could reanimate them (Spoiler alert: He couldn't.) As this hobby progressed, he decided he need better equipment, especially scalpels. To buy the scalpels, he began stealing money. Eventually he became an accomplished thief. (He once shoplifted a 12-foot canoe from a sporting goods store, just because.) Yes, his childhood art helped proclaim his adult identity.
ReplyDeleteHe had also done many worse things, and was rumored to have done many more and far worse things. I have not seen nor her from him in decades and part of me wishes that he is in jail, or is dead and burning in Hell, but for all I know he could be part of the current Administration.
I'm grateful that the vast amount of people I have known are kind, considerate, and wonderful. But there are still those few sketchy ones I wish I could forget and wish I had never met.
Sounds like a psychopath, worthy of a Stephen King novel.... I'm so sorry that your paths crossed, Jerry. I hope to goodness that my post doesn't spark similar memories in other readers.
DeleteAND btw, the text in my grandson's picture says "Oh, man, there's ice cream on my sword."
DeleteI love that comment about ice cream. We were an ice cream family and now my great niece is following in our footsteps. Atlanta
DeleteHallie, grands are the best! I have six, all with special talents. Just this week I attended a competitive dance competition for the 16 yr old where she won a diamond for her solo performance. Yesterday my 6 yr old granddaughter starred in a 1st grade “Frog and Toad” musical. She didn’t miss a beat or note. How lucky are we to see the world through their bright and shiny eyes!
ReplyDeleteIt's so much fun to watch them thrive!! (And so painful to watch the stumbles and wish we could cushion the fall.)
DeleteI have no grandchildren yet and no promise of them thus far, though we still have hope. But I do have a dear niece near my son's age who has expressed herself in vivid fuschia, cobalt, etc. hair colors since she was in her teens.
ReplyDeleteOh, the hair colors!! My grandgirl, too. Blue. Hot pink.
DeleteHallie, your grandson is terribly artist!! Love it. Not only is his drawing well done but it has a personality about it. It is almost like the motorcycle is racing toward the viewer ready to leap off the page.
ReplyDeleteMy grandson (13) and likes to draw and create figures that are part, lets say, tiger and kangaroo and then he creates their magical fighting powers. Very fun. My granddaughter (11) loves to sing and participates in after school plays.
Sounds like you have a pair who are definitely expressing themselves artistically!
DeleteRHYS BOWEN: my grandson TJ was obsessed with shoes. He went to a private high school with uniform so shoes were his only self expression. We were in Paris for his 16th birthday and he found sneakers that nobody had in the US. Pooled all his birthday money to buy them. Now he’s in college and more sensible!
ReplyDeleteI don't know, those sneakers sound like a sensible choice to me. He's not a kid who has to have what everyone else is having!
DeleteMy 9-year-old grand-nephew loves to draw, has a musical gift, and enjoys writing 'books.' We keep a file of his stories on my computer. Whenever he wants, he adds a chapter, begins a new story--whatever he wants! (Flora)
ReplyDeleteBrings back memories of my childhood. I LOVED makeup. I loved to play with makeup and when I had a brief career as a fashion model, it was as if I was a kid in a candy store. In modeling, I got to play with makeup all the time! I also wanted to be an actress. And I loved nail polish. I once asked my babysitter to paint nail polish on my nails and she confessed that she was allergic to nail polish and now that I am an adult, I notice that I am allergic to nail polish. Before I developed allergies in my 30s, I used to get manicures at a nail salon and I always asked for French manicures.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, people often brought me paper and crayons so I could draw pictures. That was fun! My father and his father in law (my grandfather) both are artists. My grandchildren inherited the artist gene and they LOVE to draw!
Both of my grands are draw-ers... they get that from my husband, for sure, but also I had an uncle who drew for the Walt Disney studios way back when they were making the first Snow White animated feature. I got ZERO in the drawing compartment.
DeleteAwesome that your uncle drew for Walt Disney studios. Though I would not consider myself an artist like my Dad nor my grandfather, I notice that I doodle when the mood strikes and I feel like drawing with my pencil. When I was a kid, I loved fingerpainting and thought it was fun!
DeleteWatching FINDING YOUR ROOTS episode with Amy Tan and Rita Dove. The host said that they turned family stories into art. Would you say that writing stories is another form of art, Hallie?
DeleteOf course it is!!
DeleteMy 13 year old grand-niece is a true artist. For the past couple of years, she’s been winning statewide competitions against kids a lot older than she is. Not that long ago, she also was asked to enter some of her work into an international art contest.
ReplyDeleteI can draw stick figures.
DebRo
Congratulations to your grand-niece!! So much fun to watch them succeed. Wouldn't it be nice if she got some international travel out of it?!
DeleteI see a lot of Jerry's influence in your grandson's art!
ReplyDeleteMe, too. Though there's even more there that feels like his mom's - my daughter draws colorful/complicated patterns and she "got" 3-d early on.
DeleteMy 15 year old granddaughter is also into press-on nails. It’s a bit funny because she’s attending a technical school studying masonry which seems to be at odds with girlie stuff like make-up and press-on nails. I haven’t tried any artificial nails because they give me the creeps re: getting them off.
ReplyDeleteThe old kind weren't peel-off ... I had a friend who wore them for months and when she removed them her natural nails were as thin as onion skin. Bleh.
DeleteMy fifteen-year-old granddaughter is not into any make-up or nails, but, of course who knows what they'll be interested in next week. Isabella's interests intrigue me. She plays the piano and participates in piano competitions.
ReplyDeleteThey can be a gorgeous mass of contradictions.
DeleteI wasn't finished. So, she plays the piano beautifully. She writes and is seriously interested in pursuing that professionally. But then she is interested in math, too, and has talked about a possible major in math in college. She sings and has had the lead and been in her school musicals. Now, we switch to sports. She's into those, too. She's on the swimming team, which includes those early morning practices. Last year she ran cross-country, but this year she's going with tennis. She used to be on the chess team, but she doesn't have time to do it anymore, although she still likes it. Oh, and being rather an independent person, she insists on wearing shorts year-round, or I think she's still doing that. I asked her once if she didn't get cold in the winter, and, of course, she replied that she didn't. As she finishes her freshman year in high school, I do wonder how she might change over the next three years, but with a good head on her shoulders, I don't worry about her.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, sounds like you don't have to worry about that one!
DeleteMy 9 year old grand loves jigsaw puzzles (& selling girl scout cookies). While she attempts lacrosse, cheer & swimming, I have high hopes for puzzling since her reading skills are not great, which makes me sad despite 100s of books. Younger sister is all girly girl, so she would love those nails!
ReplyDeleteYou have such talented and interesting grandkids, Hallie. I love it! I have no young ones in my life presently, but I am looking forward to the day when I do :)
ReplyDelete