Different Things That Make Teasing Grandchildren Delightful

When Jack was tiny, there were a few things that were fun I loved doing to tease him. The whole "I gotcher nose thing" was delightful. I would take two fingers, squeeze his nose gently, and then stick my thumb between the two fingers.

"Got it!" I would wiggle my thumb gently. Jack would wrestle me to seize my hand. Sometimes I would pretend to bite my thumb and then chew.

Jack would pry open my mouth, pretend to take it and put it back on his nose. "It's not a toy," he'd say to me triumphantly. He had heard me say that often, whether it was about my stereo equipment or something else.

Oh, and there was also the "Pookey Bear" deal.

"Do you know you are Pop Pop's Pookey Bear?" Jack would shake his head.

"Oh, Pop Pop," he'd say while shaking his head in disgust.

Now with Tommy, everything was different. He smiled about the whole nose thing, and I never made the mistake of calling Jack my Pookey Bear around his cousins.

With Tommy, I found him fun to tease when he was just six months old. He would cling to his mom. Lydia put him down on the floor once, while visiting my mom, and in front of his Great-Grandma Ward, I would crawl toward him on my hands and knees growling.



He moved rapidly behind his mom's legs, peeking around each side--first one side and then the other. "No!" he'd shout and slap his hand at me. I continued growling. Eventually, Tommy adjusted to being near me. He knew the teasing was as inevitable as the sun rising each morning.

While watching a movie, he would sit next to me in a chair. I would tickle him on his neck or on his side. He would laugh uncontrollably. Ann hated that, but I still do it when they visit.

Anna was a different story. As difficult as it was not to tease, I knew I could do it once, and then she would avoid me, so I usually did it just at the end of a visit. That way, she wouldn't remember my having done that. I tickled her like I did Tommy, or I would give her raspberries by blowing on her cheek. She would giggle, but occasionally, she would wind up her little arm, and with the force of Catfish Hunter, who threw great pitches during his career, Anna would let it swing and catch me on my cheek.

"Did she slap you dad," Lydia said the first time Anna did it. It always made me laugh. But I'm still careful about teasing Anna. She is like her mom, like her grandma Annie. Neither one enjoy teasing, so I avoided it. Sometimes, however, I just can't resist. My grandchildren are too cute not to torment them.

All of them are sensitive, so I have to be careful. They all coaxed to watch this black and white Wolfman film with Lon Chaney from the 30's. All three grandchildren sat on each side. The lights were off in the house. During key moments in the film, I would howl and I would growl and pretend to bite each one.

They all laughed. Then they stirred and cried out in the night during a sleep that was far less than restful. Ann had to travel with her part-time job the next day. My Annie damned me all to hell over that trick, and she reminds me about that, every time I do my Pop Pop Wolf Man howl.

And then there was Sammy. She is the one that makes the most sport. Feisty is the key. When a child is like that, it makes it especially fun.

I notice during each visit, that her older brother Tommy enjoys teasing her too. She squawks. She squeals. The gives him "the stink eye." It makes it fun. I can read it in his eyes.

I realized at that moment, that his motivation was the same as mine. It's what you do, especially when a grandparent has four grandchildren as cute as mine.