Another one of the traditions that Amara is quickly outgrowing is Burrito Baby! Amara and I have always had a blast with bath time. This is another one of those things that parents often have to rush through because there are so many other things to be done. Grandma doesn’t usually have to rush and Amara does LOVE her bubble baths! She loves playing chemist in the bath tub and taking empty bubble bath bottles and filling them with a little of this and a little of that to make a new scent. She has a bag of letters that hangs in the bathtub and she loves them. It amazes me how much she has learned over the last few years — she is old enough now to come up with words for all those letters. Sometimes we even make up stories with them. "A" "b"ig "c"at… The letters hang right behind the soap on a rope which she calls her "slippery soap". She also has a dolphin family and some colorful fish and no bath is complete until they have all been played with.
When we have finished playing with our letters, played chemist and played mermaid so we can wash her hair then I am finally able to drag her out of the bathtub. I wrap her in a towel like a burrito and then call Grandpa in to see "Burrito Baby"! She pretends to be a baby and to cry and it ends up with the 3 of us laughing until we are crying. It was easy to create "Burrito Baby" when she was little but as she is getting bigger wrapping her up now takes at least 3 towels — and still the toes stick out!*
Soon this game is going to have to end, too. But for now I am just happy that she isn’t too old for all these fun Grandma games.
*Read into that Amara likes to make her toes stick out!
This post has been linked to Say it Saturday at Family Home and Life.
Tags: games, Grandma, growing up, ritual, rituals
Just because the old games seem to be coming to an end, it’s time now to make new games for the future. Instead of baby burrito, she now becomes “mommy bean”, and one of her dolls could become baby burrito. Just a thought, what do I know, not a grandma yet. Last time I played with little children, well, lets just say a long time ago.
Another great story.
Katie
Katie,
That is a wonderful idea! I bet she would love it. Now I’m thinking maybe a very special new doll for her 6th birthday that she could be Mommy Bean to – one that could go in the tub! Grandma Kc
Katie has a great idea, but she’ll probably still want to be baby burrito now and then
Anita
They say your children are always your babies and I suppose that applies double to grandchildren. She will always be my baby!
And you will discover new games. Your fun will ever-increase to wipe away the tears of her outgrowing the old ones.
My ‘baby’ is now 10. Games are a favorite of his — he has always made up the rules as we play. I used to think he was simply favoring himself. But he’s not. He’s creating new games. What he comes up with at 10 blows me away sometimes. He creates games for his family to play, creates carnivals and open-air markets that take the weekend. He’s the youngest of three kids, and his siblings, while often being the bully whenever they can, really do enjoy his ‘games.’ In my heart’s mind, I see him grow into a computer-engineer of such things.
Keep enjoying, Grandma Kc — we grandmas have a huge roll to play in our kids’ lives.
Gramma Barby…
Hi Gramma Barby!
I hate that our baby is growing up so fast but what a great adventure! I see our little girl growing up to be a Chemist! How crazy is that? I will have to post a story about the recently held Science Fair — for kindergartners?? She loved it!
I am so glad we live close and can have such an active role in helping her make memories! ~Grandma kc
Amara will treasure her stories more than anything else she could be given. Nothing like capturing the moment before it becomes a memory with no one really remembering the details, or, worse, forgotten completely.
Karol — that is certainly why I am doing it! We capture all of the moments digitally but I needed someplace to store the stories!! ~Grandma Kc
Nothing stays the same. My baby is 16 now and too busy finding her way in the world to have much time for her Auntie Bean. Part of me is sad and part of me is in awe of the young independent lady that she is growing into.
16! Yikes! Amara is going to make her parents crazy when she is that age. I can’t wait to watch!!!!!!
Ah I love that story and my grandson calls the regular soap “Slippery Soap” too! We have always used Aveeno Baby Soap up until his last visit and I’d run out. So we used the regular soap and he had more fun chasing it around in the water than playing with his bath toys.
Love this picture of Amara / she’s such a pretty girl!
Now you’ve done it, you’ve made me tear up. I played this wonderful game with granddaughter Lucy, who loved bath time, too. I would wrap her in the towel, then pick her up and stand in front of the mirror. “Who is that?” I would ask. When she was little, I would give the answer: “Grandpa’s pretty girl” and she would smile at me. And you know the joy, I’m sure, from when she is finally big enough to answer the question herself, “Grandpa’s pretty girl,” and she would smile.
OK, now you’ve made ME tear up!
Oh my gosh! I tried not to tear up but I did too! Stop that ,it’s catching!!!
So many sweet memories.
Debra; my grand kids much prefer ‘slippery soap’ too. They take longer to wash their hands and get them clean if I give them bar soap for sure.
It’s so hard when they get bigger and bigger. Sure, there are great NEW things, but it’s hard to let go of the old. I, too, wrap up Bubby in such a manner and pick him up and rock him back and forth right out of the tub, calling him my little baby. Wasn’t so easy last time as he’s now nearly four and growing SO big.
We also used to swaddle him and call him a burrito baby. I think I even have a post of him bundled and called a burrito baby. Will have to search for it.
Super-sized burritos are always good, too. Maybe you will just have to have the super-sized Amara burrito going forward.