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Raising Jake


Mommy needed a babysitter for her five-month old, so for the next twelve months, Grandma ditched her recently-retired plans and babysat Jake. She changed into capris and sweat pants, packed frozen dinners and PBJs into a lunch kit, and motored twenty-five miles one way to meet up with him.
When he wasn’t eating, sleeping, or filling his diaper, Jake and Grandma read.  Their library consisted of one-word picture books, all kinds of peek-a-boos, and the kind that make noise if you press a button.
They went on many explorations and before he could talk, he understood everything she asked. He nodded or pointed to things or went and got objects when she asked for them.   
She was there when he learned to crawl, stand, walk, say his first word and his first sentence. Everything he did was inspired by books. He learned to crawl reaching for his favorite books, and he learned to stand picking out a book off his book shelf.  Once he learned to walk, he would toddle over to her with armloads of books he wanted her to read.
When their time was over, he was ready for daycare and kids his own age.   

He told her she would always be his best friend and she reminded him she would always be there for him.  There would be many more friends and books in his life but she got first dibs because God blessed her and made her his grandmother.  
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