Skylar and Papa: Life Lessons Learned and Relearned: A 365 Day Storybook of Growing Love

© 2012 Ronald B. Schram. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 4/23/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-6145-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-3617-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012904676

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DEDICATED

TO

SKYLAR

I hope this collection of stories

will remind you how much fun you had

as a little girl and how much your Papa loves you.

COVER DESIGN

The cover features purple (Skylar’s favorite color) and green (Papa’s favorite color). The butterflies represent Skylar’s playfulness and constant motion.

Contents

Introduction

JULY 2008

1       Mayor of Humarock Beach

2       My Gym

3       Adult Pool

4       Miss Independence

5       Scituate Beach

6       Grammie’s Party

7       3-Year Old Birthday

8       Swimming Lesson

9       Cousin Play

10     Cow Dog

11     Graduation

12     Birthday Party

13     Opening Presents

14     Playing Vacation

15     The Beach

16     Poolside Dining

17     Swimming Poses

18     3-Year Old Portrait

19     Anniversary

20     Chatham Baseball

21     Relaxation Pool

22     Eyes

23     Bedtime Story

24     A Good Laugh

25     Handsome Boy

26     Blueberry Pancakes

27     The Rescue

28     People Person

29     3 Year Checkup

30     Mamma Mia I

31     Legos

AUGUST 2008

1       Rocket Ship

2       Yellow Hat

3       Crayons

4       Order And Inclusiveness

5       First Day of Camp

6       Knockdown Hug I

7       The Big Sister

8       First Visit

9       Thank You

10     Party Time

11     Returning Home

12     Sydney’s First Adventure

13     Love

14     Charm Instinct

15     Lollipops

16     Bubbly Imagination

17     Pool Bean Bag

18     A Convenient Baby

19     Mister Rogers

20     Teamwork

21     Love is a Many Splendored Thing

22     22 Turtles

23     Money

24     Placemats

25     Volleyball

26     Horse Stamps

27     Out of the Picture

28     The Fort

29     Manners

30     Captain of the Park

31     Stream and Castle

SEPTEMBER 2008

1       Birthday

2       Miss Kelly

3       Invisible Boo-Boos

4       The Little Things

5       Soccer

6       3 Baby Turtles

7       Two Birthdays

8       Hide and Seek

9       Without Mommy

10     A Letter from Skylar

11     The Upside Down and Sideways Alphabet

12     This Way or That

13     Cookie Play

14     Pumpkin Family

15     Retirement

16     Play Doh Party

17     The Blanket

18     The Duck Pond

19     Swings, Balls and Fences

20     Corn Festival

21     My Baby and Yours

22     The Musical Group

23     Library Card

24     Nicknames

25     Lucky 7

26     Scrabble

27    Boy Play

28    The Trip or The Destination?

29    A Sponge

30    Exhaustion

OCTOBER 2008

1       Vocabulary I

2       Memory

3       Allergies

4       Never Too Late

5       Tree Branches

6       Skylar’s Restaurant

7       Shaving Cream Alphabet

8       Learning

9       Paci Fairy I

10     Vocabulary II

11     Anniversary Princess

12     Calendar

13     Literacy Connections

14     One Half Canoe

15     Health Foods

16     Personal Space

17     Fire Safety

18     Pizza I

19     Cookies

20     Bath Time I

21     Princess of the Forest

22     Shapes

23     Memories

24     Cards

25     Looking Glass

26     Halloween Party

27     Dentist

28     Paper Houses

29     Silly Spaghetti Picnic

30     School Picture

31     Halloween

NOVEMBER 2008

1       Microphone

2       Bowling I

3       Nana’s Birthday

4       Election

5       Squishing and Whisking

6       Letters

7       Germs

8       Yoga

9       Leadership

10     A Crab Clip

11     Changeling

12     Paci Fairy II

13     Eric’s Birthday

14     Golf and Rabbits

15     Growing Up

16     Pillow Party

17     First Love

18     Pizza II

19     A Train Trip

20     Tetanus Shot

21     Ladybug and Butterfly

22     Skylar the Builder I

23     The Band

24     Three Turkeys

25     Caroline’s Treasure Map

26     Feeling Like a Dad Again

27     Thx Papa

28     Exercising

29     Sydney and Skylar

30     The Nutcracker

DECEMBER 2008

1       Green M&M’s

2       Christmas List

3       Skylar’s Adopted Family

4       Words

5       Polly the Polar Bear

6       Songs and Dances

7       Mistakes

8       Queen Skylar and King Papa

9       Bowling II

10     First Snowman

11     Exhaustion

12     My Dog Skippy

13     Rock Star

14     The Artist

15     Green

16     Painting

17     Togetherness

18     Skylar’s Song

19     Classmate Ages

20     The Polar Express

21     Santa Brunch

22     Pretend Play

23     Trip to the North Pole

24     Christmas Eve

25     Christmas

26     The Quiet Game

27     Christmas Lingers

28     A Tractor Ride

29     Sledding

30     Blankets

31     The Recycled Christmas Tree

JANUARY 2009

1       Skating I

2       Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

3       Skating II

4       Games

5       Dora

6       Trip to Florida

7       Party Hats

8       Dreams

9       S’mores

10     Pretend Cookies

11     Astronomer

12     Travel Game

13     Garden Trip

14     Picnic I

15     The Map

16     Skylar’s First Song

17     Skating III

18     Skylar’s Venture

19     Names

20     Skating IV

21     Journal

22     Jelly Sandwich

23     Veterinarian

24     Silly Song

25     Love

26     Telephone

27     Mistakes

28     Kid-Sized

29     Grape Pie

30     Spatial Aptitude

31     Improvise

FEBRUARY 2009

1       ABC Jumping Game

2       Lacing

3       Glass Sculpture

4       The Family Band

5       Skylar the Builder II

6       Church Annual Potluck Supper

7       Church

8       Writing Our Families

9       Tom Friedman

10     Schools for Girls

11     Curious Case of Benjamin Button

12     Goggles

13     Australia

14     Valentine’s Day

15     Can’t Wait

16     Happiness Is …

17     Sprinkles

18     Fast and Fearless

19     Proof of a Good Time

20     Exhaustion

21     Treasure

22     Love

23     Dr. Emmie

24     Three Girls in a Tub

25     Go Fish

26     Paper Airplanes

27     Leaving

28     Souvenir

MARCH 2009

1       Missing Nana and Papa

2       Hairdresser

3       Seesaw

4       Mushroom Pizza

5       Science Experiment

6       Ghost Bunny

7       Toy Dog

8       Traveling

9       Animal Pantomines

10     Bath Time II

11     The Little Chef and the Big Chef

12     Oatmeal Cookies

13     King’s College

14     St Patrick’s Day Celebration

15     Bowling II

16     Pretend Stories

17     Connor’s Birthday Party

18     Pretend Mothers

19     Chalk Board

20     The Witching Hour

21     Handwritten Notes

22     Pretend Restaurant I

23     What’s in a Name?

24     Dora

25     Page Moving & Storage

26     Language

27     Writing Her Name

28     Dancing

29     Pets

30     Backyard Fun

31     Playing with Boys

APRIL 2009

1       Pretend Florida

2       Singing

3       Tea Party I

4       Toilet Paper Tubes

5       Dice

6       Sandra Day O’Connor

7       Keep Out

8       An Experiment

9       The Rainforest

10     The Zoo

11     A Visit with Tom and Michelle

12     Easter Egg Hunt

13     Homemaker

14     Rock Collection

15     Racing Cars

16     Never Gets Tired

17     Toenail Painting

18     Frogs

19     Lessons

20     Dandelion Hunt

21     Three Favorite Things I

22     The Local Pond

23     Three Favorite Things II

24     Reminders

25     The Police

26     Duxbury Beach I

27     Sandpaper

28     Hood Milk

29     Bird’s Egg

30     Skylar and Colton

MAY 2009

1       New Driveway

2       Mommy’s Birthday

3       Outside Projects

4       Visiting the Pond

5       Apple Tree

6       Mickey Mouse

7       Circle

8       A Funny Thing Happened …

9       Pacie Fairy’s Final Visit

10     Mother’s Day

11     Skylar and Emily

12     My Sunshine

13     Turtle

14     Fingers

15     Learning by Teaching

16     Rhyming Game

17     Death I

18     The Moving Window

19     Who is Taking Care of Who?

20     The Popsicle Stick

21     Knockdown Hug II

22     Sheet Tent

23     Camping Out

24     Duxbury Beach II

25     Basketball

26     Death II

27     Aftermath of Death

28     Last Day of Nursery School

29     Peter and Marilyn’s Visit

30     Julia’s Birthday

31     Class Performance

JUNE 2009

1       Scared

2       Tea Party II

3       Leadership

4       Her Camping Trip

5       Necklace Images

6       Pretend Restaurant II

7       Fishing

8       Jumping and Learning

9       New Kittens

10     Substitute Babybsitter

11     The Big Sister

12     Obstacle Course

13     First Movie

14     Marshfield Rodeo

15     Bunny Ears

16     The Elevator Restaurant

17     The Roller Coaster Road

18     Picnic II

19     Mamma Mia II

20     Sockarina

21     The Cloud Game

22     Farm Camp

23     The Special Pebble

24     Graduation from Tom and Jen’s

25     My Gym Camp

26     Mimo’s Adventure

27     The MS Ride

28     Eric’s Exhausted Finish

29     Literacy Skill

30     Watering the Plants

SKYLAR ANDERSON PAGE

AT

3 YEARS OLD

JULY, 2008

Introduction

Papa and Skylar

May 2009

In May 2008 I published a book, Caroline and Papa: Growing Up and Growing Older about my first grandchild. I recounted daily observations and occurrences for 365 days from January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007 (plus a bonus day of January 1, 2008). I captured the fun times Caroline was having as she was growing up and I reflected on the memories they triggered in my mind as I was growing older.

The book was very well received. The entire family enjoyed the stories, and I was pleased that the stories would be remembered and enjoyed again and could be retold to new generations.

It became instantly clear to me that I could not simply write a book about one grandchild. It is true that Caroline was the first but I love all of my grandchildren equally and what I did to preserve her memories I would have to do to preserve the memories of each of the others as well. That was a rather daunting conclusion. At the time of the publication of Caroline’s book, I had two other grandchildren, Skylar and Emily, but Alison was pregnant with her third child and Julia joined our family on May 22, 2008 and Laura was pregnant with her second child and Sydney joined us on August 7, 2008. That meant that I would need to write four additional books to capture the special childhood memories of all the grandchildren. The task became even more imposing when Alison gave birth to our sixth grandchild (our first grandson) on April 6, 2010.

With the commitment to continue the storybooks clear, I next had to decide when the 12-month period would begin. Caroline’s book covered a calendar year and captured her memories from age 3 years, 4 months to 4 years, 4 months. With Emily born in October, compared to Caroline in September, it seemed natural to collect Emily’s stories on the same calendar year schedule so the age span reflected would be essentially the same as it had been for Caroline. With Skylar born in July, Laura preferred a different time frame and hoped to capture her stories from age 3 years to age 4 years. So I proceeded to write both books simultaneously, starting Skylar’s in July 2008 and Emily’s in January 2009. The process took longer than I expected and longer than it took to write Caroline’s book. Just like they say about children (that two are much more than twice the work of one), I certainly found that it was hard to stay on a daily writing schedule when I was trying to do both books. While my schedule did slip, with the help of Alison and Laura, I kept careful notes of the daily activities of both granddaughters so that I could recreate the stores when I had time.

The urgency to complete the books became clear in December 2010 when I learned that Caroline, now 7 years old and in the first grade, had started to read the stories in Caroline and Papa. She was enjoying the opportunity to remember what she had experienced between ages 3 and 4, even telling her youngest sister Julia, almost 3 years old, this is what I did when I was your age. Just what I hoped would happen with the book! But it was to get even better. Caroline decided that she wanted to take the book to school for show and tell. She was very proud to have a book written about her and wanted to share it with her school friends. She proudly displayed the book, showed the pictures when she was younger and then read one of the stories to her class. It doesn’t get any better than that. I just had to finish the books for Skylar and Emily.

Like Caroline’s book, I wanted Skylar’s book to have not just a descriptive component, but also a reflective one. It was to be a collection of stories about her but also about me. I decided that the focus of Skylar’s book would be the lessons she was learning. These lessons would continue to be valuable to her as she grew up but they were valuable to me as well. The stories served to remind me of the same lessons I learned in the sandbox of my early years from experiences I can imagine but no