When I was little, there was a measuring board up at my grandpa and grandma’s house. We loved it! It was so fun to get measured and then look and see how much we had grown. I have many fond memories from that house, and the measuring board was one of them. My dad and stepmom put a measuring board up at their house this year and we all got measured. The next time we go down, it will be so fun for the children to see how much they’ve grown since their last visit! I told my dad that Grandpa K would be smiling down on us, it would make him so happy to see that tradition carried on. It makes my heart happy too.
Another tradition has begun as well. I remember visiting my dad at the dental lab where he worked when I was young. I loved visiting him there, with so many interesting things to see, and I also liked the way it smelled. (I realized later that I liked the smell so much because it was the way my dad smelled when he came home from work, and it was comforting and familiar to me.) A few times while we were there, he mixed up some dental plaster and my sister and I made prints of our hands. Those handprints were so special to us, because of the memories they held.
This year Bracken and his cousins went out to grandpa’s dental lab and got their handprints made. Bracken had done that with his grandpa once before and last night we compared this year’s handprint (having just turned six years old) with his handprint from when he was three. (I just remembered a post I wrote about it here.) He absolutely loved comparing them and seeing how much his hands have grown. I think there is something so magical for children about getting to see their growth- their handprints, their measurements, something visual to mark the time. “Look how tall I am!”
These are two happy memories from my own childhood that I’m very glad to see continued.
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