Three Cheers for Grandparents

What would we do without all the help from my children’s grandparents?  First, let me say we are fortunate in so many ways when it comes to grandparents.   Number one on the list is we have them.   Not all children have grandparents who are alive, live close and are able to be a part of their lives.   We have not one, but four real live interested and willing grandparents and my children love them dearly.

Some days, they love them better than they love my husband and me.   That is as it should be though, because I have to be the hammer sometimes.   Grandparents are allowed to spoil their grandchildren—as long as the children don’t expect that spoiling to continue once we take back over as parents.

My in-laws have watched my children for hours up to days while my husband and I did various things.   Back in November they watched our children for a whole five days while we went off to Las Vegas and did reckless things like running a marathon and playing the Brittney Spears slot machine.

Of late, we’ve had trips to Detroit.   My son is a little disappointed he doesn’t get to go, but he is happy about having special time with his grandparents.   My mother has stayed with him for our last two trips.  He has had camp outs and slept in his sleeping bag on her floor.    He’s had a sleep over and slept on her pull out sofa at my parent’s home.    He’s eaten four eggs for breakfast each morning, specially prepared by Mimi, the short-order chef.   And he has had a lot of special time with her while we were in a car for hours and hours and hours.

When we get home from a trip in which the grandparents have been watching the children, what is it like?  I’ll tell you: there is zero mess all around the house.   The dishes have been cleaned and put away.   The laundry has been washed, folded and put away, the groceries have been restocked, including some additional fun items we just might like, and the lunches have been prepared and are waiting in the refrigerator for the next morning’s trip to school.

I don’t know how we managed without this great invention called “Grandparents”.   My only complaint is they keep going home afterwards, telling us, “It was fun, but it’s your turn now.”

The Big Boy Update:  I was rearranging some shelves of clothes in my closet tonight and put on the ball cap I wear every now and again that sits on one of the shelves.   My son looked at me and said, “mom, you look like Margaret.”   I looked in the mirror at my long hair in a pony tail coming out of the back of the cap and agreed, “I do look a lot like Uncle Jonathan’s girlfriend, Margaret.   Good spotting, buddy.”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Before bed my husband told my daughter he wore contacts on his eyes to help him see better and that some day she might have special glasses or contacts to help her see better too.   He took out his contact and let her feel it and look at it.   He told her she could throw it away or flush it down the toilet.   Apparently we’ve never let her flush anything down the toilet before because she paused and then said in an incredulous tone, “are you teasing about the toilet?”