NuNu

My husband and I have been watching our 3 grandchildren every evening while their dad goes to visit my daughter, his wife, in the hospital. So each evening, around 5:30 we arrive with supper, snacks and bible story book in tow.

Well, my 2 year old grandson, Justice, has had a little swelling of the nunu over the last few days. For those of you who do not know what a nunu is, well, it is the lower private parts of the male or female body. I'm certain I don't need to go into any more details, as I believe you get the picture. I'm not sure where the term really originated from, but my sister in law first enlightened me on this new word for these private parts many many years ago. Anyway, Justice's nunu has been very very swollen and red for a few days now. So swollen, in fact, that it is approximently 3 times the size that it normally is or should be.
This evening as we arrived at the door, we were greeted by "YAYA!" as were their yells of excitement upon our arrival. Toogie was wearing her Rapunzel wig, Chippy wearing one sock on and one sock of,f as he came crawling rapidly to me, and Justice, well, Justice was wearing nothing. Yep, stark naked on this winter day, with his bold red, swollen nunu practically flashing like a neon sign. Well, that is naked, all but the thick layer of vaseline which covered the whole protrusion. His father thought it would be a great idea to just let him run around naked, let it air out and hang free, instead of having it smashed into a diaper, making things quite painful for the little guy.
As he wrapped his little arms around my legs to hug me, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Here is this sweet little boy, so soft spoken, laid back and shy(most of the time), running around the house without a stitch of clothing on, with a very oversized, red, vaseline covered nunu, literally sticking out for all to easily see, and not a hint of inhibition in his actions or character. Hmmm, I thought to myself, I wonder where he got such immodesty from? But before I could make my thought verbal, Leighton injected, "He did not get this immodesty from me OR his mom." I just stood smiling, as all fingers pointed to me. "Guilty," was all I could say.
After I finished feeding the kids and cleaning up the kitchen, we all 5 gathered on the couch for a bible story in which I would 'pretend' to read. But it's really more like narrarting and acting out instead, as the story book is writen for much older children than my audience of a 5 year old, 2 year old and 8 month old. Popcorn was freshly popped for everyone by their Poppy, and all were settled in their place, ready with eager little ears to hear the dialogue and story of Cain and Able. As my drama unfolded, I couldn't help but take in the pleasure of seeing such a precious sight on the couch in that humble little apartment. Toogie, the 5 year old, was sitting next to me, with her little popcorn bowl between her legs, Chippy, the 8 month old, was sitting on Poppy's lap with both little hands trying to dig into the white fluffy kernels and sweet, naked Justice, age 2, was wedged in between Poppy and Toogie with both of his fits and mouth completely stuff with his buttery morsels. They loved hearing bible stories, especially Toog, or was it that they just loved the over acting and dramatization of their Yaya?
As I concluded the story and closed up the book, we all proceeded to get up from the couch. Toog, being the most aggressive bounced off first, then Poppy stood up with Chippy still in his arms, and as Justice struggled to scoot to the edge of the couch and stand up, we all burst into laughter. His whole little nunu was covered in white pieces and crumbs from the popcorn which had dropped from his hands and mouth right into his vaselined 'area.' I could not stop laughing. My husband kept telling me to stop laughing and clean it off for him. Justice just stood there, frozen, looking down at his collection of leftover popcorn which has collected onto his nunu. He seemed puzzled as if he didn't understand how it had gotten there. I was on my hands and knees in front of him but I couldn't stop laughing. I pulled my camera out of my pants pocket to take a picture of this solemn faced little naked angel with the unusal nunu problem, and my husband said, "Don't you dare." I put my head down on the floor and roared in laughter.
Poor Justice. He didn't care if I took a picture of him or not(remember he has the modesty of his Yaya) or if I bothered to pick the popcorn pieces off of him, since it hurt when he was touched. He just could not understand why his YaYa was laughing so hysterically at his perdicament.
Maybe it was just pent up emotions. Maybe I just needed a really good belly laugh in the midst of all the trials and heartache I am walking through. Or maybe it was just the site of seeing a hugely swollen, vaseline coated nunu, covered with broken popcorn pieces all over it. Whatever the reason, I just couldn't help but smile, as I carefully removed the sticky popcorn kernels, and I thanked God for giving me grandkids. They are indeed a comfort and joy when your world seems to be spinning out of control, inspite of a swollen red nunu.