Sonny boy and I are enjoying our time back home (the flight went very well, by the way). I enjoyed a night out having dinner and martinis with my sister downtown while my parents enjoyed quality time with the grandkiddy. The little fella especially likes having a new house to explore; new drawers to pull open, VCRs to try to stick his hand into... (Why? He has a floor full of toys. WHY always the hand in the VCR?!)
It's great to see my folks interact with him as grandparents. I said he's their little Moon Pie (because, for those who get the Big Bang reference, he's nummy-num, and they could eat him up, of course). Moon Pie is loving all the attention as well.
Gone is the chance for me to have a full conversation with my folks, though, because no matter what we're talking about, one burp from him and everything deteriorates into "Omigoodness! Was that a BIG BURP from Grammie's boy?"
Meanwhile, as I was saying about that Nobel Prize I won...
"Where's Grammie's boy? THEEEERE HE IS! COME GIVE GRAMMIE KISSES!"
In all seriousness, I completely understand and would do the same. Only right he should command all the attention at his age. I don't make many interesting new noises these days anyway.
I remember visiting my grandparents growing up, whom I didn't live close to, either. I only saw my paternal grandparents every few years. On my mom's side, it was a five-hour drive to Cape Breton to see my grandparents, and I found the wait excruciating. Several times over the trip, I'd hold out my index fingers shoulder-width apart and say, "okay, so if this is home, and THIS is Nana's, where are we now?"
I loved my grandparents, especially my Nana, who'd always tell me I was 'growing like a weed'. She would buy us those little sugar-cereal "Fun Packs" (Although one time she accidentally bought us the "Variety Pack", which contains way too much bran for a kid's liking, and I was not amused).
I used to spend a week each summer there, swimming in the Mira River, picking blueberries, going out in the rowboat with Grandad; all the magical 'kid and grandparents' stuff. They used to make such a fuss over us; they would even listen to every excruciating detail of my 'guess what I had a dream about' narratives with rapt attention. I only saw them a few times a year, but I loved the relationship we had. I wonder if my son will have a similar relationship with his grandparents.
I think my parents will be awesome grandparents, though. They'll make a big fuss over him, take him on great adventures and give him lots of sugar cereals... and then hand him back to me when they're done.
That's the great thing about being a grandparent: all of the hugs and kisses, none of the discipline or diapers. I think my folks are settling quite well into grandparenthood.
"If I knew how much fun grandchildren were, I would've had them first."
-various witty t-shirts, bumper stickers and tole paintings
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