Camp Grandma

This past week, Boppa and I hosted the three littlest grandchildren for a day and a half, including an overnight. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that difficult either. And, boy, was it fun.

The littlest grandson, 12 weeks old, came to stay on Sunday night. We watched him for Mommy Monday while she worked. We were off for the week. He pretty much slept through the night, with a half-hour "awakening" around 12:45 p.m. but was asleep again by 1:15 a.m. He pretty much stayed asleep until around 6 a.m. when Boppa was up anyway. He's learned to smile and coo, which is so much fun for doting grandparents! He's about to roll over too. Daddy and Mommy picked him up on Monday evening for a couple of hours, but brought him back again around 9 p.m. because we were babysitting the next day, too.

The two older ones, ages 1 and 2, were picked up around 1 p.m. They were happy to see their little cousin. Granddaughter insisted on holding his bottle while they were in the car (we squeezed his car seat between their two - all properly fastened!) Since he faces backwards, he was looking right at her.

The older grandson fell asleep on the ride home and took a nap for awhile when we got home. We spent most of the afternoon just playing in the house and watching DVDs and reading books. Boppa found a gorilla book at the library, and Grandson #1 was thrilled.

The night went smoothly -- Boppa slept in the back room with the baby and the two older ones surrounded me in our big king size bed. It was around 7 before everyone was up. We decided to go see the Festival of Lights with the kids around noon. Surprise, surprise! It wasn't open until the next day (Boppa read the ad wrong) but they let us walk through as they were setting it up at no charge!! So they got to see a little bit of it. We stopped at McDonald's to get some nuggets and fries, but the kids were more interested in stomping on the plastic bench than eating! Then we went shopping to get some long pants for Grandson #1. All we had at home were shorts.

We got home and Boppa took his nap (ha ha, the only one who did!) while Nee Nee kept everyone happy. While Boppa was sleeping, a lady called and left a message for him to call her back about a part time job. I sent Granddaughter over to the door to knock and wake Boppa up. She did. Then I told Boppa that the lady called and he needed to call back. He said he'd call her a little later, but Granddaughter was insistent: "Call Lady back!" She said it several times, very insistently, until he finally gave up and did it! Earlier in the day, when she had first gotten up, he tried to give her a kiss and she pulled away and said, "Make Nee Nee's coffee!" She's gotten very bossy!

Anyway, around 5:00 we took all 3 to our booster club meeting. As we rounded the corner to go to the elevator, this man crossed behind us who was wearing those very fuzzy dredlocks and Granddaughter said, "Look Nee Nee! A pirate!" Man, that cracked me up! He didn't hear but I don't think he would've cared anyway!

Well, Grandson #1 was the entertainment during dinner hour. He tossed his plastic football around at people indiscriminately, tried to throw it at the big screen TV, chased his sister, his sister chased him, and he also threw himself down on the carpet whenever he could find a little space (when I say, threw himself down, I'm talking doing a hook slide). The little guy (baby) slept for most of the meeting, but during the time he was awake, he charmed all the women in the crowd. So just before the speaker began, we gathered them up and took them to the car and I drove them home. They were fussing as we got into the car and Boppa shouted, "Good luck," to me (he was staying and catching a ride home). Don't you know, as soon as I pulled out, all three settled right down. Granddaughter and I sang a song we made up called, "No Boogieman." When we reached the baby's home and his mommy came out, Granddaughter let her aunt know there was "no boogieman." She got obsessed by it, I guess. Anyway, we only had the older two on Tuesday night. Then Wednesday morning around 10 we took them home (so I could get started for Thanksgiving dinner the next day). Again, on the ride home, Granddaughter sang about "no boogieman."

So that was our first installment of Camp Grandma! I'm sure it won't be the last.