Middle-Pause Pump-Priming Prompt

What Are Some of Your Most Playful Multi-Generational Magical Moments and Memories?

What spontaneous games went on to become beloved family traditions?

My mom is 92 and doing great!

Even though her birthday’s in six weeks, our extended family just had the celebration we wanted to have for her big nine-o had it not been for COVID.

Gathering us all together in Ohio from as far away as California and England was an engineering feat. One of my niece’s MIT school friends got married in New Orleans, bringing her stateside. She brought her husband and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter–who my mom had not yet met in person.

But thanks to the magic of Zoom, my grandniece knows her Nana and warmed to her readily. Without that regular connection beforehand, she was scared of me. It took a while for her to warm up to me, so I gave her lots of space.

My niece engineered some storytime threesomes that did the trick!

This youngster’s full of creativity, imagination, and smarts. She loves her Ta-Ta–my younger niece who bursts with spontaneous high-energy games and magically turns bathtime hair-washing tears into laughter.

So with four generations of us present, we enjoyed and recorded lots of memorable moments.

Which brings us to our week’s Middle-Pause Pump PRiming Prompt: What are some of your most playful multi-generational moments and memories? What spontaneous games went on to become family traditions?

Okay, I’ll go first since I kind of did…

The night before last, Mom put her precious and precocious great-granddaughter on the seat of her walker and pushed her through the living room, dining room, and kitchen of our spacious vacation rental.

My niece got into the act, squealing as they chased her from pillar to post–literally! They roared back and forth at each other, playing a game halfway between hide and seek and tag.

At one point, little one pushed G-Pop–her grandfather, pronounced gee-pop — on the walker, with help from Ta-Ta to loud squeals of delight.

You can’t plan these moments.

Delight in them fully as they happen, without begging too busy recording them to enjoy them in the moment. They’re too precious and unique to miss.

The little one calls my sister Gamma and our mom, Nana.

Her husband wanted to be Grand Papa with the accent on the last syllable, pronounced like they do in France. But she dubbed him G-Pop and G-pop he is. Keep in mind her British accent draws out the ‘O’ in pop, making it an oh and ah moment each time she says it!

For every moment full of squeals and roars, we made sure there were soft, cozy cuddles reading books and sharing stories where her toys there the main characters. The cast–Leslie the soft doll, Green Bear, and Monty, the snaggle-toothed red knit monster.

Car rides were perfect for making up endless verses to well-worn songs. We all know the bus song: The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round all through the town, right? If not, you do now.

Once we’d exhausted every verse we could think of and we weren’t to Nana’s yet, we improvised. So we got:

The frogs on the bus go croak, croak, croak… The sheep on the bus go baa, baa, baa…with real bleats The lions on the bus go roar, roar, roar, etc, all through the town.

Yes, we pretended we were in a country that lets you take livestock on public transportation!

The little one’s learning how to blow a raspberry. When she does a section of her bangs pops up. It’s so cute. To give her a chance to practice this new skill, of course, I came up with:

The farts on the bus to plugh, plugh, plugh (with real raspberry sounds!)…all through the town.

Staying Out of Trouble with Bubbles

Nana and Granddaughter blew soap bubbles on the back porch. Technically, it was too cold to play outside. But we’d set off the smoke alarms backing ruggelah and the noise was deafening.

So out on the porch they went, bundled up in a faux fur rug-like blanket. Did you know bubble pipes now come in various shapes and sizes, making designer bubbles? You do now! Chasing and popping them are just as much fun as blowing them when you’re two.

We happened to be staying near a fire station.

Our toddler loves to watch the “neenaws” as she calls them go racing by, lights flashing, sirens blaring. We borrowed a Tonka To–a realistic-looking fire engine for her and G-pop to play with.

Hard to say who had more fun extending the ladder and letting all the Leggo animals slide down it! This kept them both entertained for hours, and got G-pop off his perennial electronics!

Yes, we wore Nana out.

But she was in heaven being with all of us–two daughters, one son-in-law, two granddaughters, one grandson-in-law, and the piece de resistance, her great-grandaughter who will have a sibling in September!

We kept her up past her bedtime playing cards. Yes, adults like to play, too! New games are a great workout for her brain, just like they are for the little one. They both need some of the same kinds of reinforcement.

If we all lived in Columbus, this would be everyday magic. But since we don’t, these moments are especially precious and blessed.

Even though I’m home, the party continues without me. Ten days of loving wonderment.

What better way to celebrate 92 years of life and love?

We’re sure hoping my niece has more single friends. We need her to come back next year sometime with great grandbaby number two!!!

Okay, enough about us. It’s your turn to share!

Again the prompt: What are some of your most playful multi-generational moments and memories? What spontaneous games went on to become family traditions?

Don’t play coy with me. I know you have some stories to share. And we look forward to hearing from you!

What are you ‘too old’ or ‘too scared’ to do? Let me show you how!

Marilyn Flower writes humor to laugh the changes she wants to see and make. She’s the author of Creative Blogging: Ninja Writers Guide to Character Development and Bucket Listers, Get Your Brave On: How to Do the Thing You’re ‘Too Old’ & ‘Too Scared’ to Do. Clowning and improvisation strengthen her resolve during these crazy times. Follow my Sacred Foolishness and Stay in touch!