After retiring, I\u2019ve been babysitting my three-dot grandson, Niko, which I love since I live alone. My daughter-in-law, Eleni, plans to hire a professional to \u201cteach him something,\u201d and I overheard her mockingly call me \u201cjust a babysitter with snacks.\u201d Hurt but silent, I kept a journal of Niko\u2019s moments\u2014sorting buttons, asking about the sun, making cloud mobiles. When Eleni enrolled Niko in a learning center, my time with him dropped. Still, I noted his curiosity, like when he asked why the moon follows the car.<\/p>\n
At brunch, Eleni raved about Niko\u2019s \u201cnew\u201d skills, like mixing colors, which we\u2019d done months ago. Later, she asked for my journal, moved by the depth of our bond. She apologized for underestimating me, and we grew closer, starting \u201cStory Day Sundays\u201d where Niko and I wrote books together. Eleni\u2019s sister, who\u2019d laughed at me, sent a letter saying my journal showed \u201clove is learning.\u201d Niko\u2019s notes and words\u2014\u201cyou make everything feel like a game and a hug\u201d\u2014reaffirmed my role. I\u2019m no certified teacher, but I\u2019m a bridge, a memory-maker, a safe place. Teaching Niko he\u2019s loved and curious is enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After retiring, I\u2019ve been babysitting my three-dot grandson, Niko, which I love since I live alone. My daughter-in-law, Eleni, plans to hire a professional to \u201cteach him something,\u201d and I overheard her mockingly call me \u201cjust a babysitter with snacks.\u201d Hurt but silent, I kept a journal of Niko\u2019s moments\u2014sorting buttons, asking about the sun, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183,"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions\/183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storypulls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}