All of my mom's children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren connect with her so well. She never forces herself of any of 'us' but never misses an opportunity to engage with even the littlest of the greats. When Ashley brings her clan home often my Mom will come up and join our ragtag group so she can get some Ashley time, and more importantly some great grandchildren time.
This little guy, Samuel, is a mess. While Samuel rarely gives his grammy (that would be me!) the time of day, he does, however, play with his great-grandma Kathy who thinks it's a hoot that Sammy will play with her and not me and has been known to give me a 'nah, nah, nah, nah, nah', because she is able to capture Samuel's attention, but I can't seem to connect. Sometimes I think Samuel is doing it on purpose - not really, but, yes, really.
On one of their last evenings visiting Samuel was snuggled up to his daddy as usual, and his most favorite place to be, when Mom started tiptoeing her hand toward Samuel like she was going to get him and tickle him. Sam started hiding behind the blanket on the back of the couch like that was going to protect him or keep Mom from seeing him (I mean, how cute is that!). This led to peek-a-boo and the moments of playing sent us into moments of laughing.
It's not about the things, is it? It's about the little moments, like these, that stay close and remain in our hearts.