The Picaro Grandson

 So Little Man is nearly 5, and so much of his personality is already visible. And the boy is, totally, picaro.

Picaro shares shades of meaning with picaresque, a literary term describing a novel with a lovable scoundrel main character -- think Robin Hood, or the Three Musketeers. In Spanish, the meaning is a mischievous yet charming person, particularly a child.

This boy LOVES to play, and loves to see how far he can push -- if too far, he disclaims with "I was only kidding!" He has a lot of me in him -- I come from a proud line of pranksters who do their best straight faced.

Just this am, D1 sent a video of  Little Man doing some preK homework, which he got right away, and when he gave his Mom a correct answer, he turned and gave her a smile I know so well -- not one of triumph so much  as "See? I told you I could do it!"

Baby Man is much less verbal, but also charming. He has learned at less than 2.5 that a smile goes a long way -- especially with the ladies in his life. It's too early to see if he is picaro as well.

With the Ds, D2 is much more picara. We used to call her big sister "the world's most earnest 3 year old," and she was. She was much more serious minded, and got her way with charm and confidence, but rarely joking. As she aged, she became VERY verbal, and loved puns and plays on words. She still does -- her excellent writing is RIFE with them. But her younger sister is much more likely to prank someone...

Ah -- the Big Man truly brings us joy with grandchildren. I always loved mine, but knew I would be FAR more involved as the boys grew. Maybe it's sexist, no, correction, it IS sexist to note, but often the grandmas are much more into the babies than the grandpas are.

Now that I can truly relate to Little Man, it's been a sea change for me. There will be many more ballgames, and meals, and overnight visits where I arise with him before the sun does -- and head to the House of Bagels (Grandpa Dave -- is that a store, or is a house ACTUALLY made of bagels?").

I met Norman this am at LOL, and I arrived (shockingly) early. The fellow at the next table was FaceTiming with his wife and grandkids -- I quickly gleaned the wife was visiting the family out of state. The grandkids, sounding around 10, asked if Grandpa was having his usual "nearly burned bagel and scrambled eggs." He ended the call and apologized if he was too loud. I assured him I was a grandpa, too, and it's NEVER too loud when it's about the grandkids.

So today is another of those gorgeous Miami December days. I have Bluesville playing on the Sonos. I brought Wifey her requested matzah brie from LOL. My plan for this fine day is my 3 mile walk, and then falling asleep to the Jets/Dolphins game at 1. Later tonight, we're hosting Kenny, Joelle, and their S2 Nathan. Not too shabby for a quiet Sunday.

Kenny and Joelle are nowhere NEAR grandkids -- their boys are very single. We long ago learned that you only bore fellow grandparents with tales and pix of your grandkids -- so I won't be sharing that stuff tonight.

But man -- that Little Man has grabbed my heart, and I know will never let go...