Grandma Poppins

One of several group photos we tried
to take, with variable success

Daddy has been out of town a ton lately, much to the disappointment of both girls and the exhaustion of Mommy. We like Daddy! We need him around!

Fortunately, Grandma came to our rescue on Monday afternoon. She floated in through the clouds in an airplane (Kalina is positive she saw the specific one as we were headed to the airport to pick her up) and brightened our week considerably. Spoonful of sugar and all--in the delectable form of caramel brownies.

I'd been telling Kalina for weeks that soon, Grandma will come to visit us. The girl would get a huge smile on her face and vow to show off all her toys to Grandma. We also decided we needed to take Grandma strawberry picking.

So it was with high hopes we all loaded into the car after all-too-short naps on Monday afternoon to meet Grandma in the vague area known as "baggage claim." Kalina had been asking all day when Grandma would arrive, and once we got to the airport became disappointed anew every time she didn't see her beloved relative in such places as the parking lot just outside our car, the airport entrance, and every square foot thereafter.

Fortunately, after not too lengthy of a wait, Grandma appeared as if by magic coming down an escalator. I held Kalina back until a path was clear, and then watched her sprint joyfully toward Matt's mom. Elise, who only recognizes about four people in the entire world, continued to snack on her Cheerio halves and wonder what the big deal was.

Elise soon learned--Grandma's games and amusements are all fresh and new, and generally administered with more patience than a sleep-deprived, busy mommy can usually muster. Kalina, who was already well aware of this fact, endeavored to secure as much of Grandma's attention as she possibly could.

We all settled in quite cozily--even the air mattress that was (unfortunately!) Grandma's bed for four nights became a lovely playplace for our bouncy toddler. Elise was not quite so enthusiastic, as the mattress's top was a bit too rough for the scooting the baby was bent on practicing every waking (and some non-waking) moment.

The rest of Monday was spent in a flurry of dinner, playtime, chatting and, all too soon for Kalina, the bedtime routine. Before Kalina settled down to sleep, she made sure to confirm with me that Grandma would still be here tomorrow. I said she'd be here until Friday.

By Tuesday, Kalina firmly preferred Grandma to Mommy for any and all activities. Which worked well, as Elise loudly proclaimed her preference for Mommy about 5-10 minutes into Mommy's shower. We began the morning by baking brownies, and continued the fun with a park playdate. Naps were a success (to my great surprise, as I thought Kalina would stage quite the protest), and the rest of the day was spent with a Mommy/Elise grocery run, oatmeal pancakes, and a tour of the yard, including a visit to some of our newest pets: a tadpole and a crawfish living in a shaky harmony on our deck, as well as a family of Carolina wrens that nests in a yard waste bag.

Several times throughout the day, and every day thereafter, Kalina asked which day it was and seemed relieved it wasn't Friday. I began to wonder how I was ever going to pry the girl away from her Grandma when it became time to send her home.

Kalina, however, solved this problem for me. "On Friday, Grandma will go home to take care of Grandpa Les," she rationalized to anyone within earshot. "Yes!" I almost shouted with glee. "Yes, she needs to take care of Grandpa Les after she's done taking care of us!" This was an idea Kalina could really get behind, with about 34-ish small animal friends to take care of herself.

On Wednesday, we noticed that the girls were both exhibiting signs of tiredness from all the excitement. We laid low for a while, but the beautiful weather tempted us outside for a walk, where a kind stranger took our picture. Along familiar trails we spotted mushrooms, crows, cats, various bugs and other exciting sights--even the very spot where we gather algae for the tadpole and crawfish to eat. We had a photo shoot, that turned out about two dozen mediocre shots. Maybe after another few dozen we'd actually manage to get everyone looking at the camera at once? Nevetheless, it was fun to try. No one really wanted to come inside, but lunch and naps called.

Throughout the trip, Elise increased her scooting abilities almost hourly, catching us all unawares, not least of all her mommy. Clearly, the girl was hard at work as she slapped her hands on the ground and used them to pull along the rest of her body. She amazed us all, and all three of us older girls ran to remove hazardous or treasured objects from her path. No matter--Elise is equally adept at turning 180 degrees in a flash and heading out again after whatever we'd moved. We all had our work cut out for us! Despite her newfound capabilities for exploration, the baby exhibited some signs of pretty intense boredom, having seen and mastered all the toy or like-toy objects we could put in front of her. Around this time, she learned that cool objects come from the stove drawer, and just today I witness her open it to try to get inside. [Not kidding--not sure what else to do, I pulled out a pot lid for her to reward her effort.]

The afternoon was spent at Grandma Tom's house, with a much anticipated hot dog for Kalina for dinner. In a new setting, Elise graced us again with giggles, smiles and coos, and everyone was happy. Grandpa helped Elise practice crawling, and Kalina tagged along for the ride.

The next morning, Thursday, we set out for our promised strawberry-picking adventure. We saw horses on the way. No longer bored, Elise sat in her stroller happily trying to stuff as many strawberry leaves into her mouth as possible, while Kalina, Grandma and I alternately picked and tried to distract the baby from the strawberry leaves. Kalina made sure Grandma knew exactly which berries to pick: the red ones. Not the white ones. And the ones with a little white at the tip "need to grow a little bit more."

On the way home, the adventure continued as we got to follow a real-live fire truck part of the way! Even better: it later turned on its lights and sirens. Is there a better end to a morning than that? This sight could only be topped by the strawberries we gorged on back at home for lunch. Elise giggled through the entirety of lunchtime at Kalina's antics, thereby eating almost nothing without spraying it all over Grandma. Good thing Grandma thinks both girls are pretty cute!

Thursday evening, we made it out for a fancy dinner at Chick-Fil-A. We dined to classical music al fresco, with dinner carried courteously to our table for us. Mommy got to sneak in a few bites, too, and no one ended up covered in ketchup. A success!

And then, the dreaded Friday morning arrived, when Kalina would have to say goodbye to her beloved grandparent. We spent the morning soaking up as much playtime as possible before piling in the car to head to the airport.

Amazingly, possibly because of Kalina's sweet little spirit that wants to make sure Grandpa Les is as well taken care of as we had been, there were no tears shed. However, that's not to say there weren't some long faces (mine and Kalina's--Elise was a bit oblivious) as we trooped home by ourselves.

I reminded the girl that Daddy would be home soon from his trip. Kalina cheered up a bit, but would possibly have cited the age-old adage that a Grandma at hand is better than a Daddy on the road. Come back again, Grandma!