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his Sunday, Sept. 9, is National Grandparents Day, first recognized as a holiday in 1978.
According to U.S. Census data, there are close to 70 million grandparents in the United
States, and according to a grandparents.com poll, 72 percent of them think being a
grandparent is the single most important and satisfying thing in their life. Nearly all grandparents
enjoy spending time with — and money on (about $52 billion last year alone) their grandchil-
dren. Also not surprising — 90 percent enjoy talking about their grandkids to just about every-
one! In honor of the day, the IN has opened its pages to proud grandparents in our community.

Fun At Camp
Brooke Bell, 9, and Drew
Bell, 8, of Birmingham
signal their grandparents
Marcia and Sam Bell of
Farmington Hills that
they're having a great time
at Camp Tamarack this
summer.

How Cute Am I?
Alexander Seth Hamburger,
3 months, of Huntington
Woods poses for a photo.
Granddaddy Ron Hamburger
of West Bloomfield likes to
say Alexander was thinking,
"Which do you think are
cuter? My fingers or my toes?"

A 'Love Pressure'
Reading
Visiting his grandpar-
ents, Linda and Michael
Weingarden of West
Bloomfield, 4-year-
old Evan Eisenberg of
Bloomfield Hills found
a blood pressure cuff,
which he wrapped around
Grandpa Michael's arm and said, "I'm checking to see how
much love you have inside you:'

Just Say No
Sam Kerwin, 7, of Atlanta,
Ga., told his grandmother
Helen Kerwin of Southfield,
"If I don't answer, the answer
is no."

12

September 6 • 2012

The Broken Toe
Song
"We were out with our
3-year-old granddaughter
Eliana Weiss of Huntington
Woods when she heard
us talk about her great-
grandfather Mark Hechler,"
writes Jan and Barry Kelman
of Farmington Hills. "We
said that we were sad that he had a broken toe, when she
piped in: 'I know the broken toe song: We were surprised
and asked her where she had heard it. She exclaimed, 'It's
on the CD in Bubb's (grandmother Andi Weiss) car.' The
song she was referring to was the `Boker Toy' song." Here
is Eliana with brother Sammy.

Cell Phone, Please
Fifth-grader Jared Katzen
of West Bloomfield was
given a school assignment
to write a letter of persua-
sion, according to grandma
Linda Katzen of Commerce
Township. Jared took the
opportunity to lobby his
parents for a cell phone.
"My future and you not getting a heart attack" depends on
it, he wrote. "Do what's best for you. I would prefer that
you give me the phone." The letter didn't work, according
to Linda.

Got Any Chicken?
Blake Alderman, age
31/2 of Wixom, went to
McDonald's with grand-
ma Carol Alderman of
Farmington Hills. "You
got any chicken back
there?" asked Blake,
who was in the mood
for nuggets. Since it was
only 9 a.m., however, he
was happy with pancakes, Carol said.

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Blue Tongue
Susie Graham of West
Bloomfield sent in this picture
of grandson Avi Graham, 41/2,
of Farmington Hills. "Look, my
tongue is blue!" he said.

Favorite Letter: Q
Hannah Rodner, 21
months, of West Bloomfield,
kisses her brother, Joshua,
6 months. Hannah likes to
say the alphabet song, and
emphasizes the "Q." Proud
grandparents are Judi and
Tom Fox of West Bloomfield,
and Hal and Eileen Rodner
of Bloomfield Hills.

Doctor Of Musical
Instruments
Six-year-old Caleb Kapen of
Centerport, N.Y., was trying to
understand that not all doc-
tors are "real" doctors. Trying -
to understand what a "doctor of
music" was, Caleb replied, "Oh,
so he fixes musical instruments?"
Proud grandparents are Dr. Shelly
and Rachel Kapen of West Bloomfield.

A Talented
Musician
15-year-old Kayla Kapen
of West Bloomfield plays
her cello at the November
2011 retirement and
recognition ceremony
in honor of her saba, Dr.
Shelly Kapen of the Detroit
Veteran Affairs Medical
Center.