When the Grandgirls Aren't Here

When the grandgirls ARE here, there's usually popcorn, Diet Coke and movies. There's usually toys everywhere upstairs because we like to play with a lot of stuff at once, especially "tickets", as Cora calls it, where we use the Monopoly money and real estate cards to zip to and fro on the train. I'm told I'm the conductor and they are the passengers. We visit the American Girl store in Chicago, special museums there too. (We even went to Hawaii on the train last time the girls were here.) When they're here, the girls have certain things they love to do, like swing on the tire swing and "the blue swing" and the front porch swing, pick up pecans, read books, put together puzzles, play in the backyard. They love bubbles on the front step too.

But then it's time for the girls to go home.

And when the grandgirls AREN'T here, especially right after they've left, that's when we start reliving the time we had together. We laugh about their differing personalities and some of their demands requests. I ask Vaughn if he heard Goo say what she said. He, of course, heard it, or heard about it, but wants to hear it again. I do my best to use the same voice she used to tell Cora, "HEY, it's MY turn!" We look back through the photos we attempted to take (usually with little success...they aren't ever BOTH ready to pose). We get to use our technology again (when they're here, they love to play with our iPhones and iPad and computers and...). We get the house all back together again, but immediately look forward to the day they come back and enjoy it with us again.

Snippets from the last few visits with the girls:

Cora's vocabulary is extensive for a just-turned-5 girl. She used a recent third grade vocabulary word to tell me she "caught a glimpse of a episode" on television. Wow.

Magnolia is very much a second child and wants to claim what's hers. She and Brannon (Becky's grandson) are both quite vocal about MINE and HEY when playing together.

When I asked Magnolia where Parker lives, she knew. She said "Colo-raw-doe" in the cutest voice.

Cora and I worked quite a lot on reading. She would read a chapter, then notice Magnolia playing something on the iPad and want to put the book down, but within a few minutes, she'd be back, intrigued by her new-found reading skills. Minutes later, Goo wanted to draw on the giant chalkboard in our entryway, and while drawing she was sounding out words like she had just heard Cora do with me. It was so cute, her wanting to be a big girl and read too.

Tangles happened when the girls were here last. Offey says we have to buy some special conditioner or something. He didn't like the tears when he was in charge of combing.

Magnolia usually wears cloth diapers, but at my house, we go disposable. She loves Mickey Mouse diapers and talks during every diaper change about Mickey and Minnie. She also loves Elmo diapers. She's not willing to discuss using the toilet at this point. 

Both girls know my Jeep's name is "Joe". Magnolia can't wait to ride in "Joe COR", pronounced a little like someone might say it who was from New York. She's still in a rear-facing car seat and has been known lately to pinch or poke Cora in Joe Car when we can't see her.

Cora has called us "Tracey" and "Vaughn" off and on for years. Now it's Magnolia's turn to do that. Cracks us up. When she does call me Gram, it comes out like "GREM". I love it any ol' way she wants to say it.

And last, but not-at-all the end of the cuteness my grandgirls displayed while here, instead of kisses, Cora is in a phase (I hope) of licking her loved ones.

Amelia's Stay at Gram and Offey's

Amelia has been staying with us since May 31st.

Her "dad", Parker, is off traveling the world, first to Argentina, then Peru, back to Iowa for a few days, then he jetted away to Seoul, South Korea. Singapore is next, then Kansas City for one day, and away again to Canada.

So Amelia has learned to love staying at Gram and Offey's house.

First thing Parker said when he was leaving... no rawhide bones! (On account of there was this one night of endless vomit after she consumed a chicken flavored bone. Parker says she became obsessed and just chewed until she actually consumed the whole thing and it wouldn't digest, so up it came.)

A normal evening at our house includes Gab-the-lab getting to come inside and go upstairs with us where she gnaws on a huge rawhide bone, not chicken flavored. They're not cheap, a pack of three. But bones keep her happy, she is learning to calm down a bit. And all that.

We are law-abiding grandparents. Really, we are! We want the babies to come back to us. We want our kids to trust that we'll do what they say we'll do. 

But Amelia, a month-long visitor to our house, with no rawhide bones, like her dad said...that was going to be nearly impossible. We found this out the first night the granddog was here. Gab was on the floor chewing on her giganto bone and Amelia could not take her eyes off of it. She kept running over to it, taking it, getting removed from the situation, whining, staring all the while at that bone she just had to have. She was not resting. We were not resting. Things were grim.

After one whole evening of this sort of behavior, I suggested it. Let's just SEE what happens if Amelia gets a rawhide bone. If she throws, we'll know better next time. Let's just SEE.

And we've been living happily ever after since that day. Amelia has a bone. (We tried to get her one her size. Didn't work. Wants a bone the size of HER, like Gab's.) Gabby has a bone. Sometimes Amelia will go over and take Gabby's bone. Seriously. Right in front of Gabby's nose...Gabby will look up at one of us and expect we will get it back for her. Thank Heavens she hasn't decided to eat Amelia because she certainly could do that with one swift bite. Amelia weighs 9.5 lbs. and Gabby weighs nearly 10 times that. We prefer to think of Gabby as polite (not scared of a little weinie dog).

So this is a favorite activity for Amelia. Chewing the forbidden bone. Taking Gabby's bone. Getting negative attention from Gram and Offey for taking Gab's bone.  Removal of the #2 bone from Amelia. Back to Gab. Repeat. In the a/c in a HOT Oklahoma June. Upstairs. With Gram and Offey. Life is good.

Another favorite activity that has just developed. We've been watering our plants like mad these days to keep them alive. Gabby taught Amelia how to get a drink from the water hose one day. That's all it took. Now Amelia runs through the water like a crazy puppy, splashing, jumping, no...leaping...the more water, the merrier. This whole watering thing ends up getting me (and her) filthy, so a bath is in order for both. After her water aerobics, she's real tired. Yesterday she slept three hours under the quilt on my bed, a tiny lump of snoring and breathing.