Ethan and Rebecca had planned a trip back to Michigan for a while. I believe Ethan's desire to sit in the Big House once again was a major player in the decision, but in the end, in my mind, they came back for so much more.
Every time we see them again after an absence, we have to reintroduce ourselves to Baby. I suspect it has something to do with Baby's little baby brain and how she can't remember things and people for an extended period of time, but whatever the reason, it happens. We try to remind her of who we are via FaceTime, but it's just not the same. Seeing her in real life is when the magic happens.
The fun part was that John and I had actually just seen her a week earlier. We were in Altoona while John was moonlighting for his old hospital, and Baby and Rebecca were in South Pennsylvania visiting Rebecca's mom. I asked if they would come up for lunch, and thankfully they agreed! We got pedicures, but after mine was done, I got to watch Baby. There wasn't much to entertain her in the nail salon, so we walked next door to the grocery store where lo-and-behold they had little kid grocery carts.
First thing to know about Baby: she's going to be a fabulous wife and mom someday. I actually hate pegging her in that hole, but it's so true. She loves to do the mundane things of womanhood--putting Kitty in the grocery cart (and making sure that Kitty is oriented so that Baby can look her in the eyes); pushing a cart through the grocery store; choosing which grocery items she needs. It was amazing to see how innately she does those things! We spent a lovely 45 minutes choosing our produce and walking the aisles, and I do believe we added to the happiness of others' days too, seeing how many people stopped to talk to her or stopped to talk to me about her. And how happy we both were when a woman told us that Martin's has a small fruit stand of free fruit for kids! I don't know how many clementines and bananas we took from it (and I sneakily replaced at the same time), but I'm sure Baby's little mind felt like she had hit the jackpot!
I so appreciate that Baby is always "turned out" as my G-Mother would have said. Rebecca does such a good job, making sure that Baby's hair is brushed and done, and her clothes match, and she looks like she's gotten ready for the day. I see so many little kids who look like ragamuffins with their bed-head and messy, wrinkly clothes that it makes my heart swell to see Baby looking so nice. I know it shouldn't make a difference in life, but I believe people treat you better when you look put together.
We didn't even want to say goodbye after only a few short hours, but it was okay since we knew we would be seeing her (and Ethan and Rebecca) in just a week.
Baby is an AMAZING traveler. I don't know if she was sent to earth with those Kennedy gypsy genes, or if she just got used to life-on-the-go after living in Poland for a summer, but she is the best. Just days after our meet up in Pennsylvania, Baby and Ethan (and Glo) flew to Albuquerque to meet me there so that we could see my Granddad McMillin. Baby was amazing. She travels in the car well. She is good with walking for at least a mile at time. She holds hands in the parking lots. She takes naps and still sleeps through the night in various and strange Port-a-Cribs. She's so good at restaurants, and she's even better in our home with countless breakable things perched at her eye level. She doesn't lose it when it's way past her bedtime, and she rolls out of bed with a smile when she is woken up at 4 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight. And the biggest surprise? She didn't have any trouble adjusting to her first time away from Rebecca. Over the two days away, she would occasionally call out for "Mommy", but her fears were dissipated quickly when our trio began a chant of our own names...which she would then repeat. I'm sure there are times when she isn't such an angel, but I sure didn't see them.
John and I are already counting down the days until we can take Baby to an amusement park. Our new driveway is a good quarter of a mile long, and it has two significant "dips" which when taken at 50 mph gives you the sense of pulling some serious Gs. Baby LOVES these "weeeeeeeee" moments. We would prepare by raising our hands high in the air (like on a roller coaster) and taking those dips full on. What a blast for all of us (although in the rain, I did worry occasionally about how I would stop suddenly...)! After only a day or two, we would no sooner put her in the car seat then she would raise her arms, looking expectantly between the front dashboard and our faces, and ask, "Weee?" I could hardly get the car started fast enough :-)
Baby is so good at entertaining herself. I'm honestly amazed. We went to an escape room in Ann Arbor which you wouldn't think would work with a baby. But we didn't need to do a single thing with her. She just walked around and ate snacks. And once she had her birthday gifts unwrapped? She would literally play for hours with them by herself. I've read so many studies about children these days who don't know how to entertain themselves but who need a screen in front of them to stay happy. Baby loves a screen as much as any other child, but when she's not given one, she's okay with that. She'll sing in her crib before she falls asleep. She'll play with her toys as long as she's in the same room as the adults. It's amazing, and once again I give all the credit to Rebecca.
Baby doesn't see gender. I don't know if this is something that develops later on, but for the moment, it's terrific! We threw Baby a Star Wars party because she absolutely loves BB-8, and her favorite toy at the moment? Cars. In fact, she got a Magic Tracks set with two cars, and Poppie bought her a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe.
Too, Baby is patient. She lets me work on her hair for a good 10-15 minutes, or she waits while we try and cram her pudgy little feet into her shoes. Waiting 20 minutes for macaroni and cheese is a bit of a stretch, but I ask you, who wouldn't be a little hangry after a long day?
And in the end, I knew we are going to have a long and loving grandparent/grandchild relationship when she started calling me Lollie. Not Rebecca or Ethan calling me that for her, but her actually saying my name. I could have died.
It broke my heart to think of them leaving us. To think of these little bonds we've formed deteriorating over time. At least we have them coming back to us in three short weeks. We'll just "weeeeeeeee" it up on the driveway on the way home from the airport and hopefully all will be restored :-)
Every time we see them again after an absence, we have to reintroduce ourselves to Baby. I suspect it has something to do with Baby's little baby brain and how she can't remember things and people for an extended period of time, but whatever the reason, it happens. We try to remind her of who we are via FaceTime, but it's just not the same. Seeing her in real life is when the magic happens.
The fun part was that John and I had actually just seen her a week earlier. We were in Altoona while John was moonlighting for his old hospital, and Baby and Rebecca were in South Pennsylvania visiting Rebecca's mom. I asked if they would come up for lunch, and thankfully they agreed! We got pedicures, but after mine was done, I got to watch Baby. There wasn't much to entertain her in the nail salon, so we walked next door to the grocery store where lo-and-behold they had little kid grocery carts.
First thing to know about Baby: she's going to be a fabulous wife and mom someday. I actually hate pegging her in that hole, but it's so true. She loves to do the mundane things of womanhood--putting Kitty in the grocery cart (and making sure that Kitty is oriented so that Baby can look her in the eyes); pushing a cart through the grocery store; choosing which grocery items she needs. It was amazing to see how innately she does those things! We spent a lovely 45 minutes choosing our produce and walking the aisles, and I do believe we added to the happiness of others' days too, seeing how many people stopped to talk to her or stopped to talk to me about her. And how happy we both were when a woman told us that Martin's has a small fruit stand of free fruit for kids! I don't know how many clementines and bananas we took from it (and I sneakily replaced at the same time), but I'm sure Baby's little mind felt like she had hit the jackpot!
I so appreciate that Baby is always "turned out" as my G-Mother would have said. Rebecca does such a good job, making sure that Baby's hair is brushed and done, and her clothes match, and she looks like she's gotten ready for the day. I see so many little kids who look like ragamuffins with their bed-head and messy, wrinkly clothes that it makes my heart swell to see Baby looking so nice. I know it shouldn't make a difference in life, but I believe people treat you better when you look put together.
We didn't even want to say goodbye after only a few short hours, but it was okay since we knew we would be seeing her (and Ethan and Rebecca) in just a week.
Baby is an AMAZING traveler. I don't know if she was sent to earth with those Kennedy gypsy genes, or if she just got used to life-on-the-go after living in Poland for a summer, but she is the best. Just days after our meet up in Pennsylvania, Baby and Ethan (and Glo) flew to Albuquerque to meet me there so that we could see my Granddad McMillin. Baby was amazing. She travels in the car well. She is good with walking for at least a mile at time. She holds hands in the parking lots. She takes naps and still sleeps through the night in various and strange Port-a-Cribs. She's so good at restaurants, and she's even better in our home with countless breakable things perched at her eye level. She doesn't lose it when it's way past her bedtime, and she rolls out of bed with a smile when she is woken up at 4 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight. And the biggest surprise? She didn't have any trouble adjusting to her first time away from Rebecca. Over the two days away, she would occasionally call out for "Mommy", but her fears were dissipated quickly when our trio began a chant of our own names...which she would then repeat. I'm sure there are times when she isn't such an angel, but I sure didn't see them.
John and I are already counting down the days until we can take Baby to an amusement park. Our new driveway is a good quarter of a mile long, and it has two significant "dips" which when taken at 50 mph gives you the sense of pulling some serious Gs. Baby LOVES these "weeeeeeeee" moments. We would prepare by raising our hands high in the air (like on a roller coaster) and taking those dips full on. What a blast for all of us (although in the rain, I did worry occasionally about how I would stop suddenly...)! After only a day or two, we would no sooner put her in the car seat then she would raise her arms, looking expectantly between the front dashboard and our faces, and ask, "Weee?" I could hardly get the car started fast enough :-)
Baby is so good at entertaining herself. I'm honestly amazed. We went to an escape room in Ann Arbor which you wouldn't think would work with a baby. But we didn't need to do a single thing with her. She just walked around and ate snacks. And once she had her birthday gifts unwrapped? She would literally play for hours with them by herself. I've read so many studies about children these days who don't know how to entertain themselves but who need a screen in front of them to stay happy. Baby loves a screen as much as any other child, but when she's not given one, she's okay with that. She'll sing in her crib before she falls asleep. She'll play with her toys as long as she's in the same room as the adults. It's amazing, and once again I give all the credit to Rebecca.
Baby doesn't see gender. I don't know if this is something that develops later on, but for the moment, it's terrific! We threw Baby a Star Wars party because she absolutely loves BB-8, and her favorite toy at the moment? Cars. In fact, she got a Magic Tracks set with two cars, and Poppie bought her a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe.
Too, Baby is patient. She lets me work on her hair for a good 10-15 minutes, or she waits while we try and cram her pudgy little feet into her shoes. Waiting 20 minutes for macaroni and cheese is a bit of a stretch, but I ask you, who wouldn't be a little hangry after a long day?
And in the end, I knew we are going to have a long and loving grandparent/grandchild relationship when she started calling me Lollie. Not Rebecca or Ethan calling me that for her, but her actually saying my name. I could have died.
It broke my heart to think of them leaving us. To think of these little bonds we've formed deteriorating over time. At least we have them coming back to us in three short weeks. We'll just "weeeeeeeee" it up on the driveway on the way home from the airport and hopefully all will be restored :-)
Okay, I think I need a grandchild.
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