Scott and I woke up at 4 and were on the road to Newton by 4:30. Yikes.
When we arrived, Scott stayed asleep in the car while I went in and greeted a very pregnant mom, my daughter, Leah. Emmet woke up just before they left.
Emmet and I played play dough first off. His idea. We made shapes and counted them. While we were working, Emmet said, “I made this square for you because I love you.” He said “I’m sad that Mom isn’t here but I’m glad you are here.”
Emmet and I went out to the car and woke up Papa and Emmet brought him in the house. Scott’s back is out and he is exhausted from a very stressful week at work and with the coffee shop. Not sure how much help he will be today but he’s in charge when I hit my wall. Emmet “checked on” Papa about every 10 minutes as he lay on the bed.
Henry woke up and did ok with me getting him up. He usually snuggles Mom for a bit, but not Grandma. We made breakfast and Henry asked about Mom at breakfast. He seemed fine with the answer. Henry speaks in full sentences of which I can understand about 80%.
After breakfast, the boys played with our suitcases. This was supposed to provide several hours of fun. However, Henry unzipped mine and found the bag of colorful ping pong balls. They next several hours were filled with, “Grandma, come play me.”
“Play that green one, Grandma. I want you come play me. Come get that blue ball. Emmet made a crash.”
Emmet said, “Grandma, come in here, I won.”
On to hour two…I’m not kidding!
Leah left a little note, it revealed a surprise hidden in the blanket basket: new toys from Cars! The boys were so excited! It lasted about 2 minutes then Henry decided he wanted the one Henry had. Fortunately, Emmet was ready to work the trade.
Leah is the perfect Mom. Her house was clean, fridge stocked, instructions written, and notes and surprises left.
Hour three. Found our rubber boots and went outside. We played with the new cars in the dirt and then had an argument over the cars. The countdown to trade didn’t work. I suggested a distraction, the liquidator water guns. Of course, both want to play with those. So we shot those off a few times then Emmet made mud. We played with the cars in the mud and washed them off back and forth.
Back inside, checked on Papa, now we want more surprises. Two hours in and we are out of surprises and Grandma is getting tired.
Grandma laid on the couch and the boys threw ping pong balls to (at?) Grandma and alternately shot them into Sister’s bouncy seat. This occupied about an hour then we got hangry. Applesauce snack and TV saved the day. Papa is getting his rest. Little does he know, lunch and naptime and he is ON! There is a small chance Emmet will take a nap. He does quiet time in any case.
Next came lunch. Too early. The boys barely ate. Then naps. Had a hard time getting Henry down, lots of negotiating attempts and tears but he finally slept and so did Grandma. Papa entertained Emmet quietly.
After nap we had a short snack then Emmet wanted to go out front and play kick the red ball over the house. It was a game that we played with Emmet when he was younger. It involves one grown up out front and one out back. The kids started out front with me then took turns in back with Scott. We basically kick the ball high until it goes over the house. Back and forth. Lots of cheering.
Eventually, someone had the idea to get out the baby pool. So we spent about 45 minutes playing in the pool and swinging on the tree swing.
Just before we went out, we got a text that baby Eleanor Faye was here. The boys were fairly oblivious. Apparently she was nursing quite a bit so it was a long time before we heard more.
Inside play. Cars and trains and towers with the rainbow block.
Leah FaceTimed and the boys got to meet Eleanor over video. They were both glued to the screen, fascinated. Emmet put his sweet hands on his face and said, “That’s my sister!” Henry said, “Cici!” And “that’s a baby”.
Allowed a little snack (carb) and the boys played happily with the ping pong balls, throwing them at me, etc. We went back outside and Emmet swung with Scott pushing him and Henry threw the ball up onto the car over and over so it would roll back down to him. While he did that, Leah texted the cutest picture of the baby and Henry looked at her and said, “OOO, Wow, so tiny!”
Leah texted and said that Teri and Greg were coming over to bring the boys dinner and we could go meet Eleanor through the window. So we took turns showering and then hopped in the car. We met our little sweet punk in’ through the window. Leah and Dave seemed so happy. She was so cute! I am excited to hold her hopefully tomorrow!
Scott got work texts and it is obvious he is going to have to go home and work tomorrow. Also, his back is out and he is way too stressed out to be here, so he went home after we got the kids in bed.
Periodically through the day, Emmet would announce, “Grandma, I’m so happy you’re here with me.”
We gave them a bath and got them dressed and read to them and tucked them in, Scott tucked Emmet in and I dealt with all Henry’s attempts to not go to sleep. Once he realized I want business and that Mom wasn’t going to magically appear (he said “I need Mom” several times), we were able to get him to go to sleep without much fuss. Way easier than naptime.
So day 2 is me solo.
dianegclark 