The joys of being a grandparent.

Absolutely! I particularly enjoy our "heart to hearts" about all sorts of things while supervising bathroom visits or in the middle of the night. Also the back handed compliments eg " I wish I had a huge bum like Gran so my trousers would stay up"!

Not GS but S.
While a teenager, lounging in the back of our car, and being driven somewhere or other, "why does anyone want to learn to drive, when they can be driven around instead"

NanKate it reminds me of GS1 making popcorn and kindly telling me I could have the sick bowl to eat mine out of! It does get washed

Nearly 3yr old DGS in cafe yesterday whilst I was at the counter called across the crowded room "Nannie,nannie, uv ooh" cue several aaahs and one nannie grinning from ear to ear.

DGD2 (aged 5) asked me last week why my cheeks (facial!) have slipped - all the while trying to push my face into a more youthful shape. DH answered with one of the biggest compliments I've had for a while - because Nanny smiles so much!

DGS aged 9 has been a right little horror to me today. The 13 year old has been marginally better, but I didn't get a goodnight kiss. Just a "love you" thrown over his shoulder to the room in general.

Grrr!

They don't stop being lovely and surprising. Grandson just rang up to tell me he had just got engaged to his lovely girlfriend. ''Down on one knee job?'' I asked. ''Of course!'' he replied.

Not sure it counts as a joy but we have just spent an hour watching CBeebies, clinging onto the edge of the bed, with 4 under 4s in the middle! We usually watch Breakfast and come to, slowly!

Nothing better kitty [grin[ !

Sorry! Too early in the morning

After 3 sons and a grandson I now have a grand daughter - coming up to 4. She is soo different to little boys and I am always amazed by her willingness to help tidy up, lay the table etc., Not sure if I should encourage this but it seems to be a natural instinct. I have ecema on my neck and she asked me what it was, did it hurt etc., and could she make it better. To be honest I could have been covered in a rash when the boys were little and they wouldn't have noticed.

I have 5 grandsons and one granddaughter. She has no 'tidy' instinct whatsoever! She is sometimes lazy, sullen and selfish, but of course I love her to bits. Her older brother, 15, is the caring one (takes after me?) who loves ironing and cleaning!

Kitty we recently had all four GC overnight so I know all about the 'six in a bed' experience
We bathed the two youngest (boy 4 and girl 3 cousins!) together and listened amused to their very sensible discussion about the differences in anatomy they noticed in each other.

I guess it's not all down to gender but also to nature.

My GD came running in and said she had tidied up the dining room. I was doubtful but went with her to have a look. It was incredible she had done a really excellent job. I think she takes after her maternal GM who was a brilliant tidier upper.

Apparently I am the most popular babysitter in the world. "She let us sprinkle our own cheese on our pasta –and as much as we wanted." "Then she gave us cookie dough ice cream for pudding." A couple of spoons of grated cheese and I am awesome??????????????

AND the cookie dough ice cream....

I adore my little 6 month old grandson - our first. It took a while for me to "get" him - but now I miss him when I don't see him at least once a week. He doesn't yet tell me how wonderful I am, but I get a big hello beaming grin which is just lovely. He knows me

His mum sends me short videos of him at other times, usually when he is cooing and gurgling. They make my day. At the moment the extent of my interactive times with him mainly includes singing!

We have 5 grandchildren three girls and two boys aged 9 months to 3! The eldest GD and her sister live in London but they all came to us (their cousins live close by) over Christmas for 6 days. She informed her mother on Saturday, that she wanted to go in the car and see Nana. That is up there with the best compliments I have ever received!

My little GD was very impressed by my ensuite bathroom and wanted a detailed account of how I could get up in the night and do a Poo.

I was wearing a new pair of jeans when DGD who was aged 2 came to visit. She walked in and exclaimed,"Oo gannie, nice touser". It is the best compliment I will ever be given.

My friends little GD aged almost 5 heard her daddy on the phone to her Grandma. The phone was out of range so the voice was very disjointed.
"grandma, why does daddy's voice sound funny?", "Because the phone didn't have a very good signal" "Well, I think that daddy needs to go back to school to learn how to speak properly again!"

When someone crosses the line – and I spend a lot of time with someone who is two and three-quarters pushing the boundaries – one of the other grandchildren (or sometimes all of them) points out that "you don't want to make Granna cross. No, they don't.

My beautiful 5 year old grand-daughters are lovely and say funny/ nice things all the time but I still remember when M said the best compliment ever when I was carrying her up the stairs to bath her. She was only 2 and a half and suddenly put her arms all round my neck in a tight hug and said" Oh Granny I love you so much" my eyes filled up so much I could hardly see where I was walking.

I know that feeling TwiceAsNice. I was in a restaurant with my grandchildren and my grandson suddenly put his arms around me and said
"I do love you Nan."
Makes it all worthwhile.