MANDY'S GRANDMOTHER

She doesn't like me,"" Mandy says of her Grandmother. ""'Of course she does,' said Mandy's mother sternly. 'She loves you.'"" But Mandy's assessment seems more accurate: the trouble is that she doesn't match the expectations of Mom's mother who arrives with a frilly dress for Mandy and asks politely ""And who is this little fellow?"" when she encounters her in blue jeans. And when Grandmother asks to see Mandy's dolls she's presented instead with a frog named Wart. But one morning when Grandmother is a little sad remembering how her own daughter used to sit on her lap, Mandy tells her ""I like laps too. I like laps a lot,"" and after that they are friends. (""Mandy's grandmother taught her how to knit. Mandy taught her grandmother how to whistle."") They'll win you over too.