A break with kids

I feel as though I am just getting back from a get away vacation. But, I never left my home, and I have spent the entire time with two little girls, ages 3 1/2 and 1 1/2. My husband was there for a portion of that time, and I had to go to work for a short time on one of the days, but for the most part it was just the three of us and two dogs. I had a blast!

We fingerpainted. We made a fairy house. We found a place with a log. We played in the sand box, I did quite a bit of pushing on a swing. We walked, we talked, we giggled and we got mad a few times.

Who could ask for a better break from the “real world”?

At first, it is a bit daunting for a grandparent to care for two small children all alone for hours at a time. I had forgotten how busy they are, how all-consuming it is to care for a child. No personal agendas allowed. You will not get to keep the house picked up all day. You may not get a fancy meal cooked-we did jelly bread sandwiches, apples, cottage cheese and pasta for a few meals. They seemed to flourish.

I have been hugged and kissed more in the past 3 days than I have in the past 3 months.

As I noted earlier in this blog, we have been inundated with box elder bugs. These ugly little bugs provided the ultimate in entertainment for two little girls. They sat together on the floor, pointing and laughing as the bugs crawled away from them. They each held the vacuum and sucked up some of the bugs, giggling as each bug was sucked up (they make a very distinctive sound as they head through the tubing to their ultimate resting place). They had paper cups and caught bugs, and laughed and screeched as the bugs crawled around and over the edges of the cups.

My husband, bless his heart, baked a cake and frosted it with two little girls to help. They absolutely loved that. To put this in context, I don’t believe he ever did that or would have had the patience to do that with our children. Perhaps parents give the best of themselves to grandchildren…that which they are not able to give to their children.

The older granddaughter explained to me in a very serious tone that this is her home and that she also has another home-her “new house”. This means that she remembers living here before moving to her current home. It melts my heart.

They are staying the night here with their parents before heading home tomorrow. That means I am heading back to my regular life of trial and tribulation at work and in my family.

They will be here again in a couple of weeks to stay overnight again. I am sure that I will need another break with kids by that time.

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