As my wee man gets older the distance from the grandparents gets harder. It's harder to say goodbye now that he understands that means he won't wake up in the morning and get to run into their room and say hello. That when he goes to put his shoes on to go out the nonni's shoes are not there too. "No nonno" as the wee man says.
I tried to play the goodbye down to the Nonni this visit but he knew something was up. How do you explain to a toddler that his grandparents have to go back home to Italy but you will see them again soon. The morning they left he was very clingy, needing his dummy more than ever and demanding that I am to give him 100 percent attention.
The distance is hard. Italy is a bit closer so he has seen his Nonni a lot more than my parents. Yet still every time the Nonni see him after a few months they can't help but notice how much he has changed and grown. I can't help but think on how much my parents are missing out on and trawling through the pictures you realise there are no recent ones of him with his Nana and Grandad.
He is growing so fast that I don't want the grandparents to miss out on all the special little bits. It's not just for them, it's not just for me, it's not just for him. It's for all of us as a family. It's really hard covering the distance.
I think being away from family is always hard. We live quite near my mum and my grandparents, but my husbands family live much further away (still in this country at least but far enough we don't see them that often). And I know my husband finds it quite tough to acknowledge that his parents won't get to play as big a part in the children's lives. Although I do think it means that you make the effort to make your times together quite special with lots of fun activities and quality time. X
ReplyDeleteWe definitely make sure to do lots of things together. I also take as much of a back seat as possible so he can spend time with them! I have certainly noticed something special about the relationship he has with his grandparents.
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