Grant has always been mechanically minded, preferring marble runs and videos of Rube Goldberg machines to anything else. He has taken his interest much further lately, and been fascinated with magnetism, circuitry, and machining. Those just happen to also be some of Grandpa's favorite things, which has led to some very serious bonding!
Grandpa quickly became Grant's partner in these endeavors when, on a "buddy date," they went to the electronics museum. I didn't even know there was such a thing! Grant told me in exquisite detail all about the exhibits and why they were awesome. And then he took some cartoons out of his TV rotation in favor of YouTube videos about electricity, rocket fuel, and robotics.
Grant would say that quite possibly the coolest thing that ever happened was when Grandpa came over with an old printer and they disassembled it together to see how it worked. They talked about motors, belts, axles, and circuit boards for an hour, I'd say. Grant spent the next week taking that printer further and further down to a pile of screws. (The hat on Grandpa's head is Grant's, by the way, worn at his insistence "because Grandpa loves green!")
These two melt my heart. My dad is such a wonderful, patient, and tender teacher. Not only that but he's having a blast sharing some of his interests with his grandson. And Grant is thriving with the attention and freedom. They've become inseparable!
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