Fair Play

Quick trip over and back from Indiana today. Oddly, the baby's parents did want him returned ( I think they're afriad we're going to ruin him. Shows what they know. We are far too old and tired to intentionally wake a sleeping kid for some middle of the night rocking chair time.) We tagged the return-the-kid trip with a chance to visit Haylee and her cupcakes at the fair. CareBears this year.

I remember last summer when Kev's big pleasure was being well enough by mid-July to indulge in a little fair food. Everyone walked away satisfied today--Haylee with her blue ribbon cupcakes and Kevin with his ribeye steak sandwich and hot butter dripping sweet corn.

Travel Light in Life...

...take only what you need.....a Port-a-crib. Bouncy chair. Car seat. Base for car seat. A dozen blankets. Cloth diapers to wipe his face. Disposable diapers for the rest of him. Baby wipes to wipe any area covered by the dispoable diapers. Baby bath gel. Baby Wash Cloth. Baby bath tub. (In my parenting years the baby bath tub doubled as the kitchen sink in it's off duty hours.) Special dishwashing detergent to wash his bottles. Clothes. Many, many clothes. (which grew exponentially in number once I decided he needed the next size up. Of everything.) Pacifier. Auxillary pacifier in case the unthinkable happens and the preferred plug is lost. Shoes. (His feet have never touched the floor, but shoes are an essential part of the outfit.) Hat. Toys. (Like we're going to distract him with anything beyond our own leering grandparent faces.)

We just unloaded the last of the baby stuff from the car last night and already it's time to start packing up for the Return The Baby trip tomorrow. His parents are still, obviously, in the starry-eyed newness of parenting since they want him back.

We won't leave until early tomorrow morning, but the ritual of Packing Up The Baby's Crap Necessities began in earnest tonight. How can one little baby need so much stuff? Shouldn't there be some sort of weight to baby ratio? Two pounds of stuff for each pound of baby?

Forget buying a puppy for this kid; he needs a pack mule.

Baths, Bottles and Bedtime

Indiana this week. Got to enjoy Kate and the Flapjacks at Purdue's Summer Concert Series, see Hannah collect a blue ribbon with honors for her first venture into 4-H photography and bring the baby home for a visit. Without his parents. Drive home went well although my arm was numb from repeatedly reaching into the backseat to poke the kid. Just a little poke every so often to make sure he was traveling ok. Baby sleeps all night now and brings his own bed and blankets--making him a near perfect house guest as far as I'm concerned. Did the whole baby bath time routine tonight. Definitely a change from our usual late evening hours. A soothing bath, a bottle, some low lights...ok, so maybe it's not so different from our usual late evening hours. Anyway, it worked like a charm and grandpa and baby are both sacked out soundly.

Kate and the Flapjacks at Purdue

This is summer. How summer evenings are meant to be spent; sitting on the lawn outside the union on the Purdue University campus. A little cool for a summer evening but comfortable. Perfect, in fact. People are sitting in lawn chairs, on blankets, on benches. Some are picnicing, there are bikes leaned up against trees, some people wander through by accident and stay. Children are dancing, toes are tapping.
Music makes it way through the trees, between the campus buildings....The Woodstove Flapjacks at Purdue Summer Concert Series. Kate sang a few songs with them. Gorgeous evening for an outside show. If you haven't gone to one of these July Wednesday evenings you've been missing a good time.
I bring the baby over to hear his momma and daddy play tonight. His other grandma, Carol, rides up on her bike. We pass the baby back and forth between us as we swap grandma observations and listen to the music. Kate and James are singing together on stage. Carol holds the baby and I am alternating my camera between band and baby. Friends of mine, of Carol's, of Kate and James, stop to admire the baby, ask how things are going.
This is what it should be. This enjoying new life among us. This gathering of family. All sorts of family. You are one blessed kid, little one.

http://www.slide.com/r/46ZsYbPH7z-j-g14CnCaN77yWPy3J1dx?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

TGFI

That's not a typo.

Not TGIF. Today is Monday.

Thank God For (the) Internet. TGFI

(Or Thank *OD For (the) Internet, T*FI, for my fundamentalist reader who won't write G-O-D. If it helps, you can think of this post as a prayer petition. I am truly thankful for the internet tonight.)

Been working with Hannah on her 4-H Photography project and we've been saved by the internet. A previously not known by me requirement of 3 activities in a manual has surfaced here at the late date of 4 days pre-judging. With Hannah in one place, me in another and some of her photos in a third, it's been a bit of technological slight of hand to make this happen.

TGFI

My family has a checkered 4-H past. Three girls, all 10 year 4-Hers, all knowing the fair began the third week of July with judging the previous week. I was never able to convince them that the 4-H motto is not "Any project worth doing is worth waiting until July 1 to begin." Our week before the fair experience was filled with sleepless nights, tears of frustration and meals eaten standing in the kitchen because every table in the house was covered with someone's work in progress. By judging day the house was silent--a combination of sheer exhaustion and that fact that no one was on speaking terms with anyone else.

I have trouble believing Hannah's projects have been completed with so little drama. It just seems un-natural, not befitting the 4-H way as my girls knew it. There's still time though. The project goes in at 7:30 on Thursday morning and Hannah's not a morning person...

Dear Joshua,

Thank you for calling to tell me about Kiwi, your new kitten. I'm sure you will take very good care of her and she will love being in your family.

Yours with Smiling Love,

Gran

Dear Joshua's Mother,

I was a bit surprised last night when Joshua called to tell us about the kitten you adopted at the street fair. But then I remembered that the line for the cat adoption booth was much shorter than the line for the clown making the balloon animals.

I know you are an accountant and understand numbers but I'm not entirely sure you've really done the math on the time investment here. It's also possible there are a few pages missing in the Manual for Moms I gave you when The Boy was born. There should be a chapter on the value of choosing pets with the lifespan of a helium fill versus those which will last to dance on your grave.

Yours with Smiling Payback Love,

Mom

Grandmothering 101

He peers down at the tiny intruder.

"Who's your favorite now, Grandma?"

"Joshua, you are my favorite first grandson because you taught me how to be a grandma, how much fun it is to have a boy around. Your cousin is my favorite second grandson because he reminds me of all the fun I've had since you were born and how much more fun the three of us will have together."

Grandmothering 101. It's a killer.