SCOTT LUDWIG: My grandson, the beautiful butterfly

Sunday is Grandparents’ Day, celebrated to honor the bond between grandparents and grandchildren. In honor of the occasion, here is an excerpt from ‘A Gift to Imagine,’ a book I wrote about my grandson Krischan back in 2015 – right after he turned 6.

I wrote the book before he started first grade — so he would remember all the things I taught him before he learned how to find things out for himself.

And before he discovered I didn’t know everything.

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There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. — Walt Streightiff

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The Butterfly

One of Krischan’s favorite things to tell me is that a caterpillar will one day turn into a “beautiful butterfly.” One of the great joys in life for me is waiting to see what he’ll say next. Today he didn’t disappoint.

Since Krischan and I were spending the day together, he referred to it as “our day.” I found it strange since we spent all of yesterday together as well, so I wasn’t sure what distinguished this particular day as our day while yesterday was simply “Wednesday.” Perhaps it was because yesterday he had to “share” me with my music trivia team, while today he had me all to himself.

We bumped into a woman who asked Krischan if he was going to school this year, and he proudly announced, “yes I am.” (He wasn’t.) Then she asked him what the first day of school would be, and without missing a beat he said with the utmost confidence and certainly, “The twenty-fourth.” I knew that he had just learned to count to 10 and wondered how he even knew about the 24th, and that the 24th was actually a Saturday so at the very best he had to have his dates confused.

Krischan asked if we would be going to any more “penny fountains” (wishing wells, which we threw pennies into the day before) because he had some more wishes he needed (not wanted, but needed) to make.

We got caught in the rain. Krischan said it was raining bullets and that they were trying to hit us. Other notable things he taught me today included:

♦ A Kawana bear lives in the jungles of Australia. It’s a bear that doesn’t look like a bear. Weird, huh? Oh yeah, and they eat bamboon.

♦ Daddy Longlegs aren’t really spiders. They’re just disguised as spiders so they can protect humans from real spiders.

♦ A bear is a carnivore because it eats meat. Humans are herbivores because they eat healthy. Stuff like fruits and vegetables. And meat.

♦ It’s really hot on the sun. That’s because there are a lot of volcanoes with hot lava coming out of them. The biggest volcano is called the Pile of Doom.

♦ In the ’80s, they called penguins fish with arms.

On the one or two occasions Krischan needed reminding that I was the G-Pa and he was the grandson who should be listening to what his G-Pa tells him, he made mention that my brain is mean.

We shopped for Ninja Turtle underwear, because I wanted him to be prepared if in fact he would be starting school on the 24th.

When we got home, we made a batch of chocolate chip cookies – Krischan’s favorite. He ate his fair share the instant they came out of the oven. I couldn’t blame him one bit; after all, I was young once. (According to Krischan, I am still young. He thinks I’m 6. Now that he knows what 24 is, I thought I would at least be that.)

I taught Krischan the difference between left and right, so that when he saw Cindy (my wife, his Yaya) later in the day, he could point the two directions out to her. (I should mention that Cindy has been known to have trouble making the distinction between left and right.)

Later, the three of us were in the car – me driving, Cindy in the passenger seat, and Krischan in the back – and we came to a stop light. I asked Krischan which way we needed to turn. He pointed decisively to the left and said “left.” Then we reached a stop sign and he pointed to the right and said “right.” Cindy seemed amazed – not only to learn which way was left and which way was right, but that Krischan could serve as a GPS if we needed one.

Suddenly, Krischan pointed straight up – and I could tell he was doing it to mock his Yaya – and said “up” and then pointed down and said “down.” I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.

Today, I discovered another one of my great joys in life: watching Krischan turn into a beautiful butterfly.

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