Iona Harding’s Story:
At CP, I regularly have Jude and Ashley, two very sweet, kind and lovely children.  Jude has this flock of blond hair that always looks like he just rolled out of bed!  Like my own grandchildren at that age, Jude loves dinosaurs — and he is quite the expert. Last week, one of our books was about dinosaurs and surprising dinosaur facts, all of which Jude already knew and was quite enthusiastic to talk about. Fast forward to last Saturday morning when Maurice and I were sitting at the breakfast table doing “The New York Times” Saturday news quiz together. I was so excited that I knew the answer to one of the questions BECAUSE OF JUDE!. The previous Wednesday, when reading about the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Jude told Ashley and me that this giant of a dinosaur was related to our modern day chicken — a fact that was not in the book.

Well, that was one of the questions in the NYT quiz! The specific question was something along the lines of the leg structure of the beast being the same as a modern day animal — and, thanks to Jude, I knew the answer was the chicken! Seriously, neither Maurice nor I would have guessed that, of the list of five animals in the quiz, the answer was chicken. This morning, I was so happy to share this story with Jude. And he was delighted that I learned from him. He just gave me the most beautiful smile.

This reminds me of why I do GrandPals. I learn from them. I learn from these little people who are so smart, lovely and kind. And it reminds me to listen… listen to what they have to say because we can learn so much.