Super Ted helps to keep me young
I HAVE been looking after my threeyear-old great-grandson Ted for one day a week since he was six weeks old and it has been a wonderful experience for us both. I may be 77, but you can’t have the attitude that you are too old to do anything when Ted is around. I was a hands-on father to two and grandfather to three, and now helping to bring up one of my greatgrandchildren has brought much love, pleasure, happiness and family togetherness. The early months were simply a case of taking him for long walks in his pram to get lots of fresh countryside air, wonderful for contented sleep. By the time he was approaching his first birthday, he loved to be taken in his buggy to the local train station to see the trains, taxis and buses going to and fro. He enjoys watching machinery, so I scout any local building sites that have workmen with diggers, dumpers, small lorries, rollers and wheelbarrows. At Rhyme Times at the library, my wife and I sit in a circle with the young mums to sing and mime along with the children. It was a great feeling to share the experience of Ted receiving his first award — a certificate for borrowing six library books. We go on lots of bus and train rides and a highlight of every trip is the treat of a gingerbread man. As the seasons of the year vary, so do our interests. I have taken Ted to the pictures, he has learnt to play conkers and we use sycamore seeds to fly helicopters from the top of the stairs to the bottom. On wet days we play with his collection of Eddie Stobart lorries on the dining table. He says which one we should drive and to where. Since he started talking, he has called us granny and grandad because great-granny and greatgrandad are too much of a mouthful. Ted loves buttons — the ones that stop buses, the up and down ones on lifts, the ones that operate internal train doors and I’d be fibbing if I said he doesn’t like chocolate buttons! A favourite pastime is being lifted up to post letters in the pillar box. Before Christmas, we were posting cards when the two people behind us were so amused at Ted’s enthusiasm that they got him to post theirs. Ted is very litter-conscious and is always keen to deposit snack wrappers in the bin, which makes me so proud of him. When he shouts ‘Let’s run, Grandad’, it’s no good making excuses — you’ve got to do it. The tunnels of Andover and Salisbury railway stations are our training ground, where my hand is like a magnet to his and we run together to hide from granny!
M. W. G. HORNE, Andover, Hants.