I know that every grandmother thinks their first grandchild is the most wonderful child in the world. But in MY case, it's true! LOL I babysat for Brayden Lee today, and we had such a wonderful day! Honestly, there is no one else on earth like this little boy. What a huge amount of love and joy he adds to my life. He's eighteen months old, and has a hold on my heart like he's been around for years and years.
When he arrived at 7am, he wanted to go straight outside. When he comes in the front door in the morning, he looks to see if my turtle fountain is running and full of water. If not, that's what's on his list of things to do. Instead I got him to help me fix Grampy's breakfast (ham and cheese omelette). He stirred the eggs and tried a tiny bite of ham. He then ate his breakfast (yogurt - always yogurt!) with his Grampy, and we went outside to see Grampy off to work. We then swept the garage -- he with his little broom and dustpan, and me with mine. He rather dramatically stepped on a bug or two, which is actually quite good at! Once the garage was clean (to his standards which are far higher than mine), we came inside for a bit and he helped me get the dishwasher ready to run. This is his favorite job of all. He goes under the sink and gets out the bag of dishwasher cubes, gives me the bag to open, then reaches in and gets his soap. He teases me for a minute or so, pretending that he's going to squish the little cube instead of putting it in the dishwasher, but after some serious giggling, he gets the little cube in its proper space and shuts the door, pushes all the correct buttons on the door, closes the big door and claps when the dishwasher starts! Now, why don't we all clap when the dishwasher starts? Think how upset we get when it doesn't -- perhaps it actually deserves a clap now and then for doing it's job. Brayden thinks so :)
We went upstairs to make my bed (he helps put the pillows back on the bed once I get it made), and collected all the trash from upstairs. He is insistent that we put new trashbags in the cans as soon as we pull the old ones out. His mother is teaching him well :) We went into Grampy's office to empty his trash, and Brayden was SO good in there. He knows he can't play with the things in Grampy's office unless Jeff is there with him. So he looked, but he didn't touch anything.
We went back outside, this time on the back deck so he could check his water thingies. I can't begin to explain this one! LOL There are four plastic braces on the deck that held up a canopy. They're only about 2 inches high and Brayden likes them full of water. It's apparently his job to check to see if there's water, and if not, he asks me (without words, mind you) to fill his pitcher with water so he can use his measuring cup and fill up the plastic thingies. He is a child of amazing routines. We played outside for a bit, and then he wanted to go into the shed, but when we checked in the garage for the shed keys, they weren't there! When I told him I didn't know where the keys were, he took my hand and walked me to the back door, into the house, into the laundry room and pointed at the shed keys hanging by the door! LOL! I'm not sure how he knew they were there, since they're about 3 feet above his head, but he knew. We then went out to the shed so he could say hello to the lawnmower and weed wacker.
At 10am we headed to the library. This is one of my very favorite places to be, and I'm hoping to instill that feeling in him. He was absolutely the most well-behaved child imaginable there. He didn't want to hold my hand (our library is a very busy place), but he always stayed within 5 or 6 feet of me, and always followed wherever I went. One time he got excited, and started to yell, but I just said, "Ssssshhhhhh...we always stay quiet in the library" and he stopped immediately. He said hello to the library ladies (my former co-workers) and chose three books to bring home. A Big Bird book, a train book, and a piggy counting book. He also helped me put my books and audio books in the return book shute, which he thoroughly enjoyed doing.
After the library we came home and had lunch, which he yawned his way through. After lunch he went over and tapped on my freezer, which means "May I have an ice cream sandwich now, Gramma?" and I told him no, he couldn't have it until after nap time. He didn't even fuss about it. We went upstairs, he climbed up on the bed, said good night to Joey (the cat) who was also sleeping on the bed, and went to sleep. He slept for 2 1/2 hours! When he woke up, he was all smiles and just wanted to cuddle in bed for another half hour.
We came downstairs and he wanted a snack and a drink, so he had cheese crackers and "Brayden Pop" -- flavored water (no sugar, no caffeine). He asked me to put on a movie, so we put on a Baby Einstein movie, and he sat on his blanket and ate his crackers and watched his movie. He now laughs when the cow "poops" and gets the joke of that part of the movie. Too cute.
I will also add that every single time I needed to change his diaper today, all I had to say was "Do you need some dry britches?" and he'd head to the family room and lay down on his pillow so I could change his diaper! LOL! I've just never seen any child cooperate like he does!
After the movie we put away dishes from the dishwasher -- he can now put away silveware, pots and pans, and plastic containers without me telling him where to put them. Then he played on the family room floor with his alphabet board and his pop up board, while I cleaned up the kitchen. Then it was finally time for his ice cream sandwich. As soon as I say yes to this treat, he claps his hands in glee, walks halfway across the kitchen and plops down on the floor... ready to go! Today he decided he wanted to share his ice cream with Joey, who was all too happy to accomodate him.
Mix all this with a ton of giggles, a boatload of kisses and a zillion years worth of hugs, and that was my day. How lucky am I?
When he arrived at 7am, he wanted to go straight outside. When he comes in the front door in the morning, he looks to see if my turtle fountain is running and full of water. If not, that's what's on his list of things to do. Instead I got him to help me fix Grampy's breakfast (ham and cheese omelette). He stirred the eggs and tried a tiny bite of ham. He then ate his breakfast (yogurt - always yogurt!) with his Grampy, and we went outside to see Grampy off to work. We then swept the garage -- he with his little broom and dustpan, and me with mine. He rather dramatically stepped on a bug or two, which is actually quite good at! Once the garage was clean (to his standards which are far higher than mine), we came inside for a bit and he helped me get the dishwasher ready to run. This is his favorite job of all. He goes under the sink and gets out the bag of dishwasher cubes, gives me the bag to open, then reaches in and gets his soap. He teases me for a minute or so, pretending that he's going to squish the little cube instead of putting it in the dishwasher, but after some serious giggling, he gets the little cube in its proper space and shuts the door, pushes all the correct buttons on the door, closes the big door and claps when the dishwasher starts! Now, why don't we all clap when the dishwasher starts? Think how upset we get when it doesn't -- perhaps it actually deserves a clap now and then for doing it's job. Brayden thinks so :)
We went upstairs to make my bed (he helps put the pillows back on the bed once I get it made), and collected all the trash from upstairs. He is insistent that we put new trashbags in the cans as soon as we pull the old ones out. His mother is teaching him well :) We went into Grampy's office to empty his trash, and Brayden was SO good in there. He knows he can't play with the things in Grampy's office unless Jeff is there with him. So he looked, but he didn't touch anything.
We went back outside, this time on the back deck so he could check his water thingies. I can't begin to explain this one! LOL There are four plastic braces on the deck that held up a canopy. They're only about 2 inches high and Brayden likes them full of water. It's apparently his job to check to see if there's water, and if not, he asks me (without words, mind you) to fill his pitcher with water so he can use his measuring cup and fill up the plastic thingies. He is a child of amazing routines. We played outside for a bit, and then he wanted to go into the shed, but when we checked in the garage for the shed keys, they weren't there! When I told him I didn't know where the keys were, he took my hand and walked me to the back door, into the house, into the laundry room and pointed at the shed keys hanging by the door! LOL! I'm not sure how he knew they were there, since they're about 3 feet above his head, but he knew. We then went out to the shed so he could say hello to the lawnmower and weed wacker.
At 10am we headed to the library. This is one of my very favorite places to be, and I'm hoping to instill that feeling in him. He was absolutely the most well-behaved child imaginable there. He didn't want to hold my hand (our library is a very busy place), but he always stayed within 5 or 6 feet of me, and always followed wherever I went. One time he got excited, and started to yell, but I just said, "Ssssshhhhhh...we always stay quiet in the library" and he stopped immediately. He said hello to the library ladies (my former co-workers) and chose three books to bring home. A Big Bird book, a train book, and a piggy counting book. He also helped me put my books and audio books in the return book shute, which he thoroughly enjoyed doing.
After the library we came home and had lunch, which he yawned his way through. After lunch he went over and tapped on my freezer, which means "May I have an ice cream sandwich now, Gramma?" and I told him no, he couldn't have it until after nap time. He didn't even fuss about it. We went upstairs, he climbed up on the bed, said good night to Joey (the cat) who was also sleeping on the bed, and went to sleep. He slept for 2 1/2 hours! When he woke up, he was all smiles and just wanted to cuddle in bed for another half hour.
We came downstairs and he wanted a snack and a drink, so he had cheese crackers and "Brayden Pop" -- flavored water (no sugar, no caffeine). He asked me to put on a movie, so we put on a Baby Einstein movie, and he sat on his blanket and ate his crackers and watched his movie. He now laughs when the cow "poops" and gets the joke of that part of the movie. Too cute.
I will also add that every single time I needed to change his diaper today, all I had to say was "Do you need some dry britches?" and he'd head to the family room and lay down on his pillow so I could change his diaper! LOL! I've just never seen any child cooperate like he does!
After the movie we put away dishes from the dishwasher -- he can now put away silveware, pots and pans, and plastic containers without me telling him where to put them. Then he played on the family room floor with his alphabet board and his pop up board, while I cleaned up the kitchen. Then it was finally time for his ice cream sandwich. As soon as I say yes to this treat, he claps his hands in glee, walks halfway across the kitchen and plops down on the floor... ready to go! Today he decided he wanted to share his ice cream with Joey, who was all too happy to accomodate him.
Mix all this with a ton of giggles, a boatload of kisses and a zillion years worth of hugs, and that was my day. How lucky am I?
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