All Gareth ever did was cry. From the moment he woke up until his mama got him to sleep, he cried. He didn't have a tummy ache. He didn't have an ear ache. He cried because nothing made him happy.

Gareth's mama and papa bought rattles for him. He didn't like them and threw them across the room and cried harder. They bought him blocks and sat on the floor and built castles with them, but he didn't like the blocks either. They bought puzzles and stuffed animals and jack-in-the-box's for him, but no matter what they did, he cried.

Mama and Papa grew tired of Gareth's crying. Mama always had a headache and Papa went outside to go for a walk.

One day Mama asked Gareth's grandma to come over and babysit so she could go to town to find Gareth a new toy. Grandma  came over and Mama left. She went to town and found the toy store. She saw a puppet and wondered if Gareth would like that. She saw a fire truck, a book with pictures of dogs inside, and a big blue ball. “That's it! I'll get Gareth the big blue ball. He'll love that.”

Mama took it home and sat down on the floor next to her baby boy. She took the ball out and showed him. “Look what Mama bought for you. A new ball.”

Gareth looked at it and took it from his mama, but decided right away that he didn't like it and started crying again.

“I don't know what to do with him. All he does is cry.” Mama looked at Gareth's grandma, hoping she had a suggestion.

Grandma opened her bag and pulled out a necklace. It had red, yellow, blue and green beads, held together with stretchy string. She handed it to Gareth. Something amazing happened. He stopped crying. He held the beads up and giggled. He swung them around, chewed on them and tried to count them.

“You did it! You made Gareth stop crying!” Mama smiled and hugged Grandma.

That night when Papa came home, Mama took him into the room to show him that Gareth wasn't crying. Papa smiled too.

From then on, whenever Gareth started to cry, all they had to do was call his grandma and she'd bring over another set of beads for him. Grandma's are the best.