Sleepover

Oh, joy! Last night my grandson spent the night with me.  We had pizza (cauliflower crust), cherry tomatoes, crispy snap peas and fruit chunks for dessert.  We camped out on the couch with a tray between us and watched his shows.

Eden loves rolling around on the round foot stool (pouf) I have.  And he likes to balance on it, standing tall and moving his feet as if on a surf board.  That pouf is getting a work out.

He was pretty wound up after an afternoon at a rock climbing gym with one of his pals.  He explained to me that this particular friend gets grumpy quite easily -- mad, even.  Today it was the 'prize' he got for reaching the top of the climbing wall:  a Cliff bar.  His pal wanted a toy.  Eden was quite thrilled with the cliff bar, his friend was not.  Eden said, with equanimity, that his friend didn't speak to anyone while in the car going home.  He was pouting.  I told Eden he was very patient with his friend, and his reply was, "Whatcha gonna do?"  Exactly.

My son-in-law is on a business trip to India, of all places, and his mom and a friend drove to Boulder to see a drag show, of all things. 

His little sister was with the wife of the woman who Laurel was with, and she took my little grand daughter, who is about their son's age.



Eden was picked up bright and early by his Nanny in order to get him ready for school.  My daughter leaves for work about 6:15, and I know she won't have returned home before midnight.  She's going to be one tired ass teacher today.

And this, my friends, is why I moved to Colorado.  To experience the lives of my grand children and to imprint the totality of my goofiness upon them.

I had one very cool grand mother, and she was my favorite.  Not all grown up and stuffy like the others.  She modeled good grand parenting.

Crossing my fingers there will be many nights like this to come.

Have a good week!

Monday Musings

My grand daughter celebrated her first birthday yesterday.  My daughter contacted me on FaceTime so Steve and I could sing happy birthday with the party goers and watch Dylan figure out how to dig into a cake.  I'm so glad we have the technology where we can stay in touch this way.  It makes me feel (almost) like I was there.

Kids were running around, hyped from the trampoline and donuts, no doubt.  I think my daughter pulled this cake from the baby after she'd had a good amount.  She's not used to eating sweets.  Hope she doesn't erp all over her parents!

I'm listening to a radio program KPIG on Spotify.  KPIG is the radio station I adored when I lived in the Monterey Bay area.  Eclectic mix of country, rock, folk rock and flat out hillbilly.  Good music for packing, which is what we are doing these days.  I'm starting with the closets, as they are usually the last thing that get packed, and it's always such a scramble at the end.

I have no idea when escrow closes.  Hoping to find out today from the realtor.  When we moved into our home 3.5 years ago, I thought we had done a good job of purging, and I suppose we did, but purge again is what is going down.  A poster of Hillary I've never even looked at?  Toss.  Yes, history, but how many other people are going to have this history in their drawers?  I did same a campaign button of hers.  ("Today" from Jefferson Airplane just came on. Wow.)

I've been thrown off my vegan diet somewhat just because of the chaos and upheaval.  Yesterday I had half of an italian meat sandwich.  It was good but my stomach suffered for it.  I'll get back on track.  My blood sugars are up due to the stress of everything.  So much for my excitement at getting them much lower in the last several weeks.  Again, when the stress is over, my sugars will come down.  It still amazes me, 25 years later, what a direct line there is between stress and sugars.  Wish it weren't so.  Makes me feel a tad fragile.  Ick.

(Grateful Dead, Jack Straw on now...see what I mean?)

I very much look forward to normalization, and soon.  Until, I keep keepin' on.  I'm so thankful that my husband can find the humor during these crazy days.  Lots of laughing going on in our home.  Hysterical laughter, but laughter nonetheless.

So it goes.

Monday Musings (He's Four now)

I'll say it again, being a grandparent is one of the most lovely, fun, endearing things I've ever experienced.  My grandson was here for 3 nights and I loved every minute of it.  We had him all to ourselves one night, while his parents were at a wedding and stayed at a hotel.

We know his bedtime routine -- his folks have it down pat so that he hardly ever fights it.  As I was steering him towards tooth brushing and potty going, I knocked on the bathroom door to give him his night time disposal underwear, otherwise known as "pull ups."  He balked a bit when I opened the door, and I asked him if he wanted privacy.  He did.  So I told him he could have his privacy and I just wanted to give him the pull ups.  I dropped them inside and closed the door.

I took just a few steps down the hall when I heard him calling for me.  I walked back to the door and, staying outside, asked him what he wanted.  His reply?  "Bubbe, you're the BEST!"

Good Gawd but my heart melted.

TGIF

and a Happy Friday to you all.

When at the zoo, it's important not to get distracted by exotic animals.  Yes, sure, you pay money to get in to see them and experience the wonder of nature.  But let's not forget the zoo infrastructure, the glue that holds this zoological extravaganza together.  Storm drains are vital to the smooth functioning of the zoo community.  My grandson knows this.  He also thinks it looks like a good hangar for his airplane.

Trains, Cars, and Kneesocks

So many happy scenes from Christmas, but I'll choose this one to share today. Trains and cars were the big hit this year -- and a lovely wood kitchen set with pots and pans and food in bright colors. My second Christmas waking up with this lovely grand son of mine -- priceless. Best. Gift. Ever. I played with my cell phone application called "ColorBurst" and that's how I made this photo. I forgot my serious camera (damn!) in my rush to get on the road, so the cell phone had to do. And then this morning my daughter sent me this shot, which caused me to screech with laughter.

Now I want my own Superman knee socks!

Trail of Toys

It's 8:44 a.m. and I am ready to go back to bed.

Grandson has been up since 5:50 a.m.  This is happy complaining, mind you, and it's not really complaining, it's just that I am amazed the amount of energy it takes to be with a toddler for a day, or a morning.  Litany of the dawn:

• ate grapes
• didn't want to be looked at or touched
• pulled books off the shelf just for the helluvit
• ate cheerios
• drank juice
• ate oatmeal (two helpings)
• watch some baby tiger cartoon
• took the dog for a walk
• pulled his backpack out and unloaded all the toys into the kitchen
• ate more grapes
• got changed and dressed
• brushed teeth
• drove mom to her teaching assignment
• drove grandson to daycare
• empty the dishwasher
• clean up breakfast dishes
• pick up toys in kitchen, living room, bedroom
• brew a second cuppa and put on some relaxing music

And I think there may be some laundry around here somewhere.....

There's a reason we have kids when we are young.  I am usually perplexed when I hear of a 40 something expectant mother.  Yoy.  When my daughter was young, we had friends who had their first baby when she was 40, her second boy when she was 45.  Granted, this woman had lots of energy -- she had to.

At 56, I discover that I have enough energy to help out for a few days with my grandson, but I'll probably rest a lot when I get back home.  Hell, it's been two days since I showered.  I've been making do with sponge baths because that's just the way it is.  Oh, how I recall the days of young motherhood when I was 32.

Oh, and last night, I gave him a bath (fun!) and afterwards as I stood him up to brush his teeth, he pulled away from the toothbrush, faced the bathroom door and proceeded to pee on the tile floor.  I picked him up mid-stream and stuck him on his potty.  But, alas, he had peed himself out.  He thought it was pretty funny to pee on the floor.  It was even funnier when dad cleaned it up.  Good times.

I do love him so.

Of Cruises and Grandsons

I'm a little scattered.  Total First World Problem.  I'm going on a cruise to Alaska at the end of the week and I'm tying up loose ends, getting ready to leave.   And I just got back from a trip to visit my daughter and celebrate my grandson's second birthday.  Suffice it to say, time is rushing by.

 Eden now has a cousin, Daniel, who is but a week old.  My daughter's friends are starting their families.  It's a odd feeling to see these 'kids' that I've known since their high school years having babies of their own.

At the party there was breast feeding and bottle feeding, baby blankets and strollers, scrunched up new born faces and chubby legged toddlers running about.

The boy couldn't have cared less about the cupcakes, balloons and macaroni salad.  He just wanted to dominate the play structure.  And so he did.

He's fearless.  Lives each day to the fullest.

Bubbe is taking notes.

He Makes Me Happy

How is it that an almost 2 year old who is fond of breaking down into hysterical fits can make me happy?  He is a drama queen, and when he is upset (which happens often these days) he will throw himself onto the floor and kick his feet until he realizes he's hurting the heels of his tootsies by banging them on the hard tile.  Then he'll stop the heel banging and carry on with the tantrum.

Wouldn't it be bitchin if we, as adults, could do this?  Think of the stress we could release!  The chili a little burnt, the cornbread didn't rise?  Throw yourself on the floor and pound your fists and kick your feet until you are beet red in the face.  Then, spent, get up, grab the car keys and go fetch some Chinese take-out.

Sounds good to me. 

Somebody step all over your presentation at work?  Fuck 'em!  Whaddya think those big conference tables are for, anyway?  They are for throwing our massive adult bodies on!  C'mon!

So, back to the baby.  In between tantrums, he is demonstrating excellent skills such as buckling himself into his stroller.  Or trying to.  He climbs in by himself, spends a good 20 minutes attempting to accomplish something I have a difficult time doing.  (Have you tried those new baby devices?  I mean, really.)

His parents are taking his tantrums in stride, though his mom retreated to the couch when, in a fit, he ripped open a sealed bag of tortilla chips.  She looked as though she could kill him, and asked, "WHY are you being so AWESOME today?!"  Then she stomped into the living room.  She gave herself a little time out.  She's good.

Remember: there is always bed time.  And he goes down easily.  Then we can have silly adult time, which makes me very happy, too.