At lunch today my grandson was doing very well with eating and things were going on pretty smoothly until we got to the 18 month old's version of a Mexican Stand Off. Throwing the cup of milk because he wanted down, instead of just telling me he was 'all done' he decided he would do no such thing and there was nothing I could say or do that would change his mind. In the end he wound up back in his bed (crib), where I removed everything....his blankets, stuffies and so on, so he could have a little time to himself 'thinking' about his actions. We are pretty geeky here and have a video camera mounted in his room, as well as a baby monitor to keep tabs on him when we are not up there and he is *supposed* to be sleeping. There are nets made for his crib that form teething pads on top and secure the spaces between the bars of the crib.
I watched him party hardy up there, removing the nets from the rails (now they will just stay off), and rocking and rolling that crib across the floor until he got it over to the chair I had laid the blankies and stuffed toys on. It was pretty astounding to me how he figured it all out and managed to pull the blankies through the bars of the crib from the chair and back into his grasp. Grammy, here, huffed it back up the stairs and caught him pretty much by surprise with the goods in his hot little hands. I say, "What are you doing?" He looks at me and starts trying to put the nets back up onto the rails saying "Uh-Oh." Like it was an accident that they were off the rails. (It was pretty hard to keep from laughing..but I managed). We then had another conversation that lead to him getting out of his little prison and moved on to Target where he was just absolutely perfect in every way. He even carried the little bag back to the car for me.
Wish I could have taped the gyrations he went through in that crib to get it over to the chair though, that was just priceless to see.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Foolin' the old lady!
Taking care of my grandson can often be fun as well as tiring. He is full of energy on even a bad day. Today he came with a cold developing and was very tired in the morning. He took quite a long nap and is now currently sitting in a chair biting his own foot. He has munched on me twice today, not hard either time and with his eyes on me the whole time to watch for a reaction. Neither of times were the reaction favorable, but I could tell he was pulling his punches and this was just a test. Much of the day with him is a test, he continuously tries things that he knows is a 'no-no' just to see what I will do (I or other of his authority figures).
We had been over to a Target to get some mailers this afternoon, then stopped by a park to swing - he declared it 'hot' with a hand wave and that he was done, with another wave of his hands. So we left to go back to the car and go home. Once home we played with water, bubbles, and then side walk chalk. When we are playing bubbles, most of the time he stands around yelling 'bubble bubble bubble' while I am running up and down our driveway making bubbles or trying to blow them so they are all in his reach...ummm not that he actually reaches for them so much. He does do it some and begs me to do bubbles to no end, but then ignores them much of the time, until it is time to stop.
One of the little tricks he had going on this afternoon was with one of his toys called the 'Ball Popper'. It started after a rousing swing in the park, a round of bubbles and scribbling with sidewalk chalk then it was time to come inside. Being 93 degrees outside, we were both tired from the heat (okay - mostly *I* was tired). He didn't stop at all. First there was the extremely stinky pants (big job alert!) and putting his completely chalked up clothes in the wash and listening to him being all upset because the bag to his megablocks were zipped and he couldn't pour them out over his head. I finally sat down after he got interested in a book and when I did, he started playing with the ball popper. I was playing with him off and on, holding my hand over the air/ball exit hole to make the balls pop out even higher. Pretty soon some were under the couch. All upset about that he started getting a bit frustrated so I said, "just say 'help Gramma'". So he says 'elb Mammaw' so I got down on my hands and knees digging out the balls from under the couch..it was at about the 3rd time that I noticed he was actually putting the balls under the couch on purpose then calling me for help. I got them out again and warned him I was on to his little tricks. From now on a ball laid would be a ball that stayed. And now there are balls under my couch. He is not happy and I am wondering if that is why he is playing with all of his musical 'sound' toys at once now.
We had been over to a Target to get some mailers this afternoon, then stopped by a park to swing - he declared it 'hot' with a hand wave and that he was done, with another wave of his hands. So we left to go back to the car and go home. Once home we played with water, bubbles, and then side walk chalk. When we are playing bubbles, most of the time he stands around yelling 'bubble bubble bubble' while I am running up and down our driveway making bubbles or trying to blow them so they are all in his reach...ummm not that he actually reaches for them so much. He does do it some and begs me to do bubbles to no end, but then ignores them much of the time, until it is time to stop.
One of the little tricks he had going on this afternoon was with one of his toys called the 'Ball Popper'. It started after a rousing swing in the park, a round of bubbles and scribbling with sidewalk chalk then it was time to come inside. Being 93 degrees outside, we were both tired from the heat (okay - mostly *I* was tired). He didn't stop at all. First there was the extremely stinky pants (big job alert!) and putting his completely chalked up clothes in the wash and listening to him being all upset because the bag to his megablocks were zipped and he couldn't pour them out over his head. I finally sat down after he got interested in a book and when I did, he started playing with the ball popper. I was playing with him off and on, holding my hand over the air/ball exit hole to make the balls pop out even higher. Pretty soon some were under the couch. All upset about that he started getting a bit frustrated so I said, "just say 'help Gramma'". So he says 'elb Mammaw' so I got down on my hands and knees digging out the balls from under the couch..it was at about the 3rd time that I noticed he was actually putting the balls under the couch on purpose then calling me for help. I got them out again and warned him I was on to his little tricks. From now on a ball laid would be a ball that stayed. And now there are balls under my couch. He is not happy and I am wondering if that is why he is playing with all of his musical 'sound' toys at once now.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Midgets and Midges
As always it has been quite a while since I entered anything. There are things to say, of course, but often I wonder how worth while they are when it comes to writing them down. My husband has been encouraging me to set down in writing the stories I tell him each day after babysitting my grandson. I just don't know if I *can* tell them without my entire body demonstrating his antics. I think that my whole self is *much* better at telling the stories than just my words.
Anyway, this last weekend we went camping. My grandson likes to get up early and on Sunday morning I hear this crying...it was fairly early for a Sunday, not that it bothered me, but I'm guessing considering how close the campsites are together, others could hear it as well. I hear a noise and look up, because my head is almost even with our window in our camper (I'm a 2 pillow sleeper), and my SIL is leaving the camper, he came inside our camper to do something and then went back out. But while he was gone I could hear my daughter saying 'No, don't do that!', and the door would quickly open and shut, and well, that went on about 3 times or so. When my SIL tried to get back in their camper. I then heard my daughter exclaim, 'don't open the door I am trying to get dressed!'. So said SIL just stood outside with his hands in his pockets waiting, obviously our little buddy inside was preventing her getting dressed quickly by continuously opening the door. Next thing I saw (or heard) as they were eating right outside out window, was about muffins...my grandson (18 months old) wanted 'bapple' so he got 'bapple'. But somewhere in their conversation my little grandbaby says 'yo mama'....I heard my daughter say 'did he just say 'yo mama'?' I looked up again and grandson was pointing to his father...(did he just say 'yo mama' to his DaDa?) At which point I burst into uncontrollable laughter, and needless to say they could hear us about as well as we could hear them...except they weren't sure if it was laughing or crying they were hearing from our camper. So then when I could breath again, I just confirmed the 'laughing'. Not sure why I found that so funny.... I think I was the only one that did.
It was shortly after that I heard quite a loud 'bang' on the camper and then my grandson crying....when I saw him a little while later there were a couple of big red welts on his head. Seems he saw the 'ball' on the trailer hitch and since he is just *crazy* for balls...he headed right for it, not caring that there was a very large camper in his way - walked right into it. Now you think he would learn from that, however he managed to do it 2 more times before the day was out. His mother, who was planning to get his photo done in the next few days, has now canceled his photo session until some of the bruises on his face fade.
Another interesting thing that occurred this last weekend while camping at Father Hennepin park was that there was a huge Midge hatching that was extremely eerie! There were *so* many that you could see dark waves of the bugs up in the sky right above the tree tops. And the noise!!! That was the spookiest part of all, very loud swarming sounds that would change a little in pitch...and got louder as the swarms of them grew closer over head. They do not bite, and they stay up above the trees for the most part, still we closed everything up and went inside to play cards. It was all just too weird.
Anyway, this last weekend we went camping. My grandson likes to get up early and on Sunday morning I hear this crying...it was fairly early for a Sunday, not that it bothered me, but I'm guessing considering how close the campsites are together, others could hear it as well. I hear a noise and look up, because my head is almost even with our window in our camper (I'm a 2 pillow sleeper), and my SIL is leaving the camper, he came inside our camper to do something and then went back out. But while he was gone I could hear my daughter saying 'No, don't do that!', and the door would quickly open and shut, and well, that went on about 3 times or so. When my SIL tried to get back in their camper. I then heard my daughter exclaim, 'don't open the door I am trying to get dressed!'. So said SIL just stood outside with his hands in his pockets waiting, obviously our little buddy inside was preventing her getting dressed quickly by continuously opening the door. Next thing I saw (or heard) as they were eating right outside out window, was about muffins...my grandson (18 months old) wanted 'bapple' so he got 'bapple'. But somewhere in their conversation my little grandbaby says 'yo mama'....I heard my daughter say 'did he just say 'yo mama'?' I looked up again and grandson was pointing to his father...(did he just say 'yo mama' to his DaDa?) At which point I burst into uncontrollable laughter, and needless to say they could hear us about as well as we could hear them...except they weren't sure if it was laughing or crying they were hearing from our camper. So then when I could breath again, I just confirmed the 'laughing'. Not sure why I found that so funny.... I think I was the only one that did.
It was shortly after that I heard quite a loud 'bang' on the camper and then my grandson crying....when I saw him a little while later there were a couple of big red welts on his head. Seems he saw the 'ball' on the trailer hitch and since he is just *crazy* for balls...he headed right for it, not caring that there was a very large camper in his way - walked right into it. Now you think he would learn from that, however he managed to do it 2 more times before the day was out. His mother, who was planning to get his photo done in the next few days, has now canceled his photo session until some of the bruises on his face fade.
Another interesting thing that occurred this last weekend while camping at Father Hennepin park was that there was a huge Midge hatching that was extremely eerie! There were *so* many that you could see dark waves of the bugs up in the sky right above the tree tops. And the noise!!! That was the spookiest part of all, very loud swarming sounds that would change a little in pitch...and got louder as the swarms of them grew closer over head. They do not bite, and they stay up above the trees for the most part, still we closed everything up and went inside to play cards. It was all just too weird.
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