Dear Kaylee,
We have been having wonderful times together. Your Great Grandpa and Great Grandpa Lindgren came out and shared Easter with us. We went to the Science museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. You were a trooper that day. You got to eat ice cream with your Mommy and that is a rare treat for you.
Easter Sunday you came up to hear the children’s message and you made Grandpa laugh. Here is what happened-
Oh, well, I keep getting plenty of hugs from you anyway!
Love,
Grandpa
Dear Kaylee,
We had fun the other night when your mommy and daddy celebrated their third anniversary. They went to a restaurant called “Salt Creek Grille,” where they had delicious steak. You and I spent the night running around your house and reading your books. The highlight for me was when it was time for you to go to bed. Grandpa has never put you to bed at night before and so I haven’t watched you brush your teeth. You did a great job!
Grandpa brushes his teeth a lot and enjoys having that clean mouth feeling. Our teeth are very important to us. We both love to eat!
Love,
Grandpa
Dear Kaylee,
Well, your first Christmas is over. I am writing this as I look at a framed picture of you sitting on Santa’s lap. You two got along fine. Yes, Christmas was a whole lot of pictures of Kaylee in many different Christmas outfits. You were involved in much hustle and bustle, but you didn’t seem to mind. Several dinners in restaurants even, and you made it just fine.
My favorite memory of your first Christmas is about the real Christmas. When we celebrate Jesus being born. This is a big deal. What does it mean?
It means we can finally understand God for the first time because he comes to us on our terms. If we are going to be in a relationship with God, he has to address us in our terms, in a way we will understand. And so God does.
God comes as Jesus and, Kaylee, everybody gets it. Who doesn’t love a baby? Who doesn’t want to be around a baby? O, people may think they don’t want to be around a baby, and then one actually shows up and smiles, and all bets are off.
So, what is my favorite first Christmas memory of you?
You are at the altar when Grandpa is telling all the children the Christmas story. Your mommy sits with you off to the side. My baby girl with her baby girl listening to the good news of Jesus.
What could be better?
Now we get it.
Love,
Grandpa
Dear Kaylee,
Well, it is time for you to start eating some food. You have your first tooth!
I guess there isn’t much you are going to chew with that one tooth, but now your mom and dad are going to start giving you cereal. This is just one of those milestones that are so much fun. When I had the chance to feel your tooth in your mouth, it reminded me of going fishing.
Except this time I caught a Kaylee fish and I am not going to throw here back!
Love,
Grandpa
Dear Kaylee,
Grandpa is interested in brain research and he is reading a great book, Joy Starts Here. The brain research author, James Wilder, says God wires our brains for joy. The part of the book that I liked most was about how important it is to have a high-joy atmosphere connected to feeding in a babies’ life. Here is a quote.
“Infants respond with joy to being fed, held, and stroked. Pleasant smells, being kept at just the right temperature, smiles and warm voice tone bring joy. Babies respond with joy to being fed good things. This joy at being fed is designed to bond the baby and the feeder together.”
That’s you, Kaylee. You bring so much joy to everyone who sees you. And the best time is when you eat, isn’t it? Your mommy feeds you with her milk and hugs you close. Your daddy feeds you with a bottle with mommy’s milk and hugs you close. During the week, Nana and Grandpa get to feed you and hug you close. You are just one little bonding machine!
I love when you look up at me when I am feeding you. There is pure trust in your eyes. For all of us who feed you, God is creating an imprint that will last the rest of our lives.
Here’s Grandpa’s promise. I will always feed you and will always be filled with joy at my Kaylee. I know this not because of me, but because God is the one who gives me this kind of love, and with God, you never have to worry about being loved. He’s got that one figured out. And he’s so smart he connects joy from the very beginning with feeding. Something you have to do several times a day. How amazing is that?
Love,
Grandpa
Dear Kaylee,
Well, today is a special day for your mommy and daddy. It is their second wedding anniversary! Only two short years ago today they were married at our church. It was a beautiful wedding filled with so much joy.
Kaylee, guess what? At your mommy and daddy’s wedding, Grandpa got to pretend he was like Superman…
Here is what happened.
As you know, Grandpa is a pastor, but at weddings it is the custom for the father of the bride to walk her down the aisle. So, what do I do?
Well, I walked your mommy down the aisle wearing my tuxedo, and then gave your mommy to your daddy as the sign of our blessing. Then, I quickly went behind the altar and took my coat off and put on my robe and came back to your mommy and daddy as the pastor, ready to continue the service.
Madonna? Beyonce? Gaga? They got nothing on Grandpa!
Kaylee, chances are, someday you are going to get married. You will meet a special man like your mommy did and then your daddy will walk you down the aisle. I pray to God that I will be there waiting as the pastor, and this time, I can just keep my robe on and not have to do a “costume change.”
Love,
Grandpa
Dear Kaylee,
I sure am glad they invented Facetime and Google +. You can make a video call and see someone, as well as talk to them. This was especially good when I was visiting my mommy and daddy, so they got the chance to see you “live.” They enjoyed that so much! Got the chance to see you smile and make faces.
My favorite thing is like what happened last night. I called your mommy on Google+ and she said you had been fussy. Yep, you were doing a bit of whining in your crib, but when your mommy put the phone in front of you and I said, “Kaaaayleeee! Kaaaayleeeee!” you stopped whining and broke out in a big smile.
Grandpa’s voice did the trick!
It is funny how my voice calms you down when, of course, I am a pretty loud person. So, for you, loud means, “Grandpa!”
I can whisper to you, too, so I guess that will sound like a normal person and Nana will like that better…
Love,
Loud Grandpa
Dear Kaylee,
Well, you are four months old today. Happy four months! You must be eating quite a bit because you now weigh twice what you weighed at birth. You are just about 15 pounds, which is about the weight of my bowling ball. So, you know what’s coming…
Kaylee, my little bowling ball!
Grandma gave me a picture frame for two pictures and one of them is you doing your best imitation of Katy Perry singing, “Roar!”
Katy Perry is one of the most popular singers in the world right now. She started out as a Christian gospel singer. Her dad is a pastor just like Grandpa. I have her first album with songs about faith and Jesus. She wrote every song on that album herself. Even as a teenager, she had an amazing voice.
Here is how you can compare yourself to Grandpa. When I was your age, the most popular singer was also a Christian who sang faith songs, but he too is much more famous for his other work. His name is Elvis Presley. “Heartbreak Hotel” was the #1 song when I was born.
You are already a wonderful singer. I love to listen to the songs you come up with your primordial singing. I know you will grow up to be a beautiful singer because your mommy is one, and the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Or I should say…
The bowling ball!
Love,
Grandpa
Dear Kaylee,
Today is your Great-Grandma Hanson’s birthday. She will receive flowers from Nana and me today. Irises. Her absolute favorites! My mommy used to have irises bordering our yard, irises at our cottage on the lake, irises at their townhouse after I moved- Irises and more irises.
They are beautiful flowers and when I see one I instantly think of my mommy. That’s how it is with beautiful things. Beauty always points us to something beyond ourselves. Flowers are amazing, because in every culture that is capable of growing flowers, they have grown flowers. Who doesn’t like flowers?
People are just like bees and bunnies. They looove flowers!
And how wonderful that flowers come in so many gorgeous shapes and sizes, and especially, O, the colors!
This is just another reason I know how much God loves us. God could have just given us drab looking plants, and there you have it. Instead God is a thoughtful artist who uses all the paints on his palette.
Hey, Kaylee, guess what is my favorite flower? Iris.
And one of the funny things that some men like grandpa like to say? We call the women we love, flowers. When you put a bunch of flowers together, it’s called a bouquet, so let me tell you about my bouquet.
My most special bouquet is centered around your Nana, the most precious flower, worth more than the rarest orchid in the world. Then there is the Kristina flower, who is the the woman I love more than anyone except your Nana. She has a strong stem, with the gentlest of petals. Your Great-Grandma Lindgren is in the bouquet because she loves me lots, and she raised your amazing Nana. Then surrounding the whole bouquet is irises, because my mommy showed me how much God loves me by just being my mommy.
“But, what about your Kaylee flower?” I can hear you say.
Well, because you are new in my life, I have to admit, I think about you more than any of my other flowers. So, for now, you are my little boutonnière, closest to my heart. The rest of the bouquet won’t get jealous, though, because…they feel the same way!
Love,
Grandpa
Dear Kaylee,
It was your uncles’ birthday yesterday. Uncle Greg and Uncle David are 22 years old. This made me stop and think. This means that the last time Grandpa changed diapers was over 20 years ago!
It doesn’t take long to change you. We used cloth diapers for your uncles and that meant diaper, pins, and plastic pants. Now we use disposable diapers and its “Zoop, clean, zoop, ready to go!”
By the way, I call you “frog” when I am changing you because you kick your legs back and forth as I am getting down to business. We are getting pretty good at the routine. I am thinking about promoting synchronized diapering for the next Olympics. Grandpa and Kaylee can be in the “senior” division.
One thing you are learning about your uncles that you will grow to appreciate. They are both hilarious. They will be fooling around with you all the time, just like they do with your mommy and daddy. Uncle Greg said he wanted to teach you a bad word for your first word.
“Crap.”
So, your mommy said if he does that, y’all are going to call him “Uncle Crappy.” Sure, enough, your mommy sent a birthday picture yesterday to “Uncle David and Uncle Crappy.”
Don’t worry, Grandpa will make sure to put a stop to this particular shenanigans. We’ll teach you a different nickname for Uncle Greg that starts with the letter, “G.”
Uncle Goofy!
Love,
Grandpa
