My daughter made the mistake of telling her 22-month-old, “Tomorrow we are going to grandma and grandpa’s house.”
The baby loves her grandparents. She wanted to go to mmaa-mma mmma-baa’s house right now. This most determined of children tugged and pulled her mother toward the car. She had no intentions of going to bed and waiting until the morning. She was going then and there.
At noon, they drove into our driveway and tumbled out, eager to hit terra firma and doing the bathroom dance.
They brought their bikes to practice riding. Good old sibling rivalry and its competitive spirit motivates them to ride more than when they only had one bike. They made a few rounds up and down the drive calling, “Watch me, Grandma, watch me.”
After a thorough demonstration, my daughter and I drove into town. I needed to check in at the office and she needed some retail therapy. I left her at the thrift shop that advertised a sale for children’s clothes. At the rate her children are growing, she prefers stretching their family budget by sorting through gently used clothes and other items. A couple of hours later, she emerged with four dozen articles of clothing, a toy or two and a new looking, dollhouse-shaped bookshelf, all for less than $100.
Retail therapy complete, we went home to work on a sewing project she brought and to read books to the children. I never quite seem to have enough time to read them even a fraction of my books before it is time for them to go home again.
But even books did not help when big brother seemed bored with our old folks home. I found the bag of plastic eggs from previous visits and asked him to fill them with candy I took from my husband’s secret hiding place.
Once he had filled the eggs, I suggested he hide them with his grandfather’s help. Grandpa protested, “you can’t hide the eggs that you are going to look for!”
Well yes, the lad could. That is just part of the fun, hiding and then running and scooping up as much as possible. Of course, the older two children ran faster and saw the eggs sooner than the baby. We coached Daisy in the game of “find the eggs” and coached the older children to help her find the eggs. As the game wound down they discovered the chocolate inside the eggs, emptied the eggs, ate some candy and the rest returned to Grandpa’s secret hiding place.
Fortunately, a cooking mood hit during the week or two before I knew that they were coming. I only had to warm up meals of soup, scalloped potatoes and ham. Their momma refuses to have any fussy eaters, so with the wonder of the microwave, I enjoyed more time with company.
The cool weather at the time did not deter these kids. They saw the child-sized picnic table on the patio and decided to have a picnic lunch. From the warmth behind the patio doors, we watched them smile as they sat out in the cold, shivering and smiling, enjoying their first picnic of the year.
But the cold soon brought them back inside for play. All the way inside to my bedroom where my bed became the launching pad for a daring game of jump the short distance across pillows on the floor to the lounge chair.
After watching her big sister, Daisy climbed up the short bar stool to the mattress, walked over the edge of the bed and leaned forward ready to jump, but scared. She hesitated. She had never done it before. Big sister, almost 4, jumped past her two or three times while Daisy still stood there longing to fly, but fear and caution held her back.
Finally, I reached up and offered to hold her hand while she jumped. She took it, flew once and the next time eschewed the hand. Her fear conquered, she wanted to jump and jump. Her mother watched her climb up the bar stool one time, went to the side of the bed and opened the drawers built under our platform bed to make stairs. The baby did NOT want to do that and just bawled at being told she had to use the steps rather than the bar stool.
She is emphatic when things do not go her way. Her momma said that when she wants Daisy to eat vegetables the child protests loudly. She prefers dessert. Momma’s rule is first you eat veggies, then you get dessert. My daughter said it took the little one quite a while to realize if she would take a few bites of veggies she could get some bites of dessert. So, of course, the rules did not change at Grandma’s house. Momma made sure she ate healthy food first. Fortunately, the baby did not hold that against us.
I’m sure she will be just as ready to return the next time Momma announces a trip to Grandma’s house.