Babysitting

[merryyon]

Yesterday my neice was EXTREMELY pregnant, today she is NOT.  Long story short, I kept her three kids overnight until about 6:30 tonight.   The oldest is an 11 yo boy who is an easy keeper, a 9 yo girl who is for the most part an easy keeper and then the reason for the post...EMILY, who is 6 and who intends to rule the world, while continuing to hold her position as little miss queen bee of the baby world....lets just say that I love them dearly, but the little queen bee is something else!!  I hugged my sister (who is their grandmother) and told her, I have never in my life been so happy to see you, when she came to pick them up!!  They are enjoying their new baby Lily tonight, she is a whopper at 9.3, you can have a look at her and her cute little fat rolls on my blog.  You can also see the recently disposed queen bee of the family babyhood!  Good night!

[linda/IL]

Must be something about Emilys.  My Emily (3 yr old DGD) didn't say one word-not one!!-all the way to school the other day when I drove her & sister.   About a 10-15 min. route.  Called her dad worried she might be getting sick but he informed me she was in a pout about going to babysitters.  Wonder what she'll be like in another 3 yrs.  BTW, she's the "baby".

[Kay/NC]

Sometimes, I used to wonder if numerologists have it right...there were some names of students I'd NEVER name a child, just because any/every kid I ever taught (or otherwise knew) with that name was a pain in the rump.  Makes you think....

As for the new big sister Emily, I'd wathc her with her baby sister.  That act of being deposed as Queen Bee can bring out the beast in a child.  Little Lily is going to rock her world. (I saw her picture on FB last night, but didn't have time to comment...she is precious!)}

As for babysitting, I finally made a formal offer to our daughter yesterday, to watch Winn for her to do her morning chores.  I had kept him Thursday and Friday last week,. and then again Monday. 

We do great for a couple of hours, which is all she needs three days.  Her Daddy wants  to split her chores with him the other two, until the baby's tolerance for missing his Mama extends to longer absences.  Most days four hours is her max with the pigs, anyway, and that is only one ht e days we both receive and ship out pigs.   

She had been planning ofncalling on me only a couple times a month, which was fine if that was what she wanted.  They had figured out a lot of extremely early hours for her, and SIL trying to manage the baby often after a 12-hour night shift.  Just very hard on both of them, for no good reason. 

Now, she's feeding him and driving the mile to my house, dropping him off, and continuing into the farm for her work.  Yesterday, he was soudn asleep, and she laid him in the pack-n-play, and I heard not a peep for an hour. 

Today, he was awake when I got him out of his carseat,  He looked up and  grinned at me, then fell sound asleep in maybe thirty seconds of rockabye time. 

So, an easy keeper.... He has started sleeping through the night enough for her to feel human again. 

We are working on him taking a bottle of her pumped milk...easier some days than others.  Some  mornings, she wants him to have a bath, and others not.  We have a good long nap, then a playtime, and maybe a bit of the bottle. 

I had not anticipated babysitting regularly, but haven't got anything better or more important to do.  When I made the offer to our daughter yesterday, when she came back to pick him up, I could see her relief. 

I had told her all along that I would do whatever she needed me to do for him and her, but that was in the abstract.  He is such a happy baby, it is fun for me. 

[merryyon]

Good Grandmas are such blessings!!

[Kay/NC]

My Grammar was an integral part of my young years, before she moved to town, to be closer to her daughter and her new babies.  I don't think I realized how much I missed her when she moved, until a couple of years ago. 

I remember being on her bed, playing with the spools of colored thread she sewed with, or sitting on her stepstool while eating a fried apple pie. I recalled that last one the other day, while talking with a friend. 

The jars of jelly sitting on her kitchen windowsill to cool are a sense memory that comes up every time I do a piece of stained glass.  I grabbed one of those old stepstools at the secondhand shop on that trip, so Winn will have a perch to sit on when he's a bigger boy. 

He is sacked out right now, after she stopped by to nurse him to calm his frazzled nerves...some things MawMaw just cannot do.  She and her Daddy decided to set out big bales for the horses together, since it starts raining here this afternoon, so we've rocked to sleep again.   

He had a major meltdown for a while, until she got her on her break.  We had about worked it out by the time she got here... 

Rome wasn't built in a day, and little boys take a while to get onto a schedule.  I just hope he has good memories of being here with me, too. 

[turkey feather]

I am sure the two of you will make wonderful memories.

 Sometimes I do wonder what my grandchildren will remember about me years from now. I do hope they don't just remember me for the foods they enjoy. My friend was saying that her GD who was turning 19 made a request for a birthday dinner with her favorite foods. My grands also have favorite foods that they expect when here for holidays or just for a meal. Do memories begin with food?

[Kay/NC]

More than we would like to admit, I think.  This is why foods have such strong traditional and familial ties.  Smell is the strongest memory, from some research I have read.  The aroma of a favorite food is a very strong assocaition with comfort, happiness, satisfaction. 

There ia a whole lot of helping with this tiny child that is tied in with supporting and taking care of my daughter, in the way I have arrived at my heart's decision to do this.  She is a very hardworking and sweet person, and was preparing to wear herself out with trying to get up in the wee hours, to get her work done and not "bother" me.  It was simply unnecessary to go to those extremes. 

We just got back from hauling trash to the landfill, with me in the middle fo the old Explorer with the baby, and her driving and dragging it all out into the dumpsite.  Yesterday, we went to get our crs serviced, and I took her out to lunch. 

Last two nights, I've been up to the old store (which is the family gym now)with them for an hour or so.  I've gotten his swing assembled, so she can get some regular exercise, and he is happy in his new ride. 

This morning, she needed some oatmeal when she came back to feed him...they had overslept, and she rushed and skipped breakfast.  I just see her trying to be Superwoman, and think back to how badly I overextended myself in that set of shoes as a young mom.  I crashed hard from the effort, and don't want that for her. 

I doubt that I will be the grandmother remembered for her cooking...but maybe Mike's meals will fill in that gap.  Maybe the one with the REALLY bad singing voice...when I crank up my old lullabies, I think he falls asleep in self-defense. 

[dairy mom]

I'm so jealous.  That is something I never have gotten to do.  My nearest GC's are approx 240 miles away so there has never been any "mom can you watch the kids for a couple of hours.

My brother and I used to spend extended time with our grandparents during the summers.  My oldest GD just turned 9 so maybe in the future we can try that.  Although they spend extended time with the other set of grandparents every summer camping in Canada.  But unfortunately my sil really doesn't enjoy the farm, but he does enjoy camping with his family.

My daughter is really good about coming up on the occasional weekends when her husband is otherwise engaged.  He is involved in the lego robotics competition at the high school level and she usually comes here those weekends.  We are really proud of him.  Last year his team did well enough to qualify for national competition but unfortunately they couldn't procure the corporate sponsorship to pay for the trip.

[dairy mom]

Good luck with the bottles.  My first never took a bottle of anything from anyone no matter what.

The only time I ever left that child was when we shivaried (sp) my husbands sister and her husband when my first was about 2 months old.  My saint of a mil was up the entire night with her crying while I partied and never really got angry about it.   I think probably because the partying was for and about her favorite daughter.

[Kay/NC]

He is  sweet as he can be...only gets sideways when he wants to nurse, even if he's slready full as a tick.  We had a perfect morning yesterday, a rough patch today for a while.  He will get used to it and certainly isn't suffering in the growth department. 

He takes the bottle a bit, and fusses at it some.  Not meat to feed him, really just to entertain him until she gets back.  This little spell between two months and six months. when he can sit up and eat some solid foods, will be a matter of stretching his patience out a bit at a time.  We have asked her to start at no more than two hours away from him at a time, then work their way up. 

It is funny, but our youngest Heeler looks for him in his pack-n-play when she comes in now, after only four mornings.  We joke about not laying the baby down around a pack of dingos,   and we are careful with him around any animals, but she is fascinated with him.  Lizzie is a special dog. 

I am slowly but surely getting the house back into place after the kltchen work.  Having him here part of the day paces that down further, but it is worth the delay.  He relaxes me more than I ever thought anything could.  Can't imagine being that far from him....