Hi everyone!
My current desktop photo is taken from Yesterday, the last story I wrote. I really like this picture and think it would be pretty blown up and printed on canvas. Will I do that? Probably not.
Mike and I got to keep Andrew for a whole work day one day.
Kandyce’s mom Pat had to have back surgery. She has a herniated disc and is in a lot of pain. So the decision was made to have the operation and the date was set.
As so often happens, Murphy’s Law kicked in and Kandyce’s substitute babysitter backed out for the day of the operation.
“What are you going to do with Andrew?” I asked Kandyce when she told me.
“I’ll have to take him with me.”
Operations, no matter how many times they have been performed or how ‘safe’ they are, always have a risk factor. Just waiting for word is very stressful. Who needs the added stress of a toddler?
“Mike and I will watch him for you,” I volunteered us both.
Kandyce was thoughtful for a moment. “Are you sure you want to? I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone, it could be all day.”
I had to think about that for a second. “All day? Oh. Wait. You mean just until Kevin gets off work at 3:30 and comes to get him?”
“Yeah.”
“Heck, that’ll be a breeze!”
The morning of Pat’s operation Kandyce dropped Andrew off on her way up to the hospital in Jeff City. Andrew headed for his toy box and played all morning. He’s got a crane with a hook on it. When he was here a week or so ago I picked up a little pink ring (left over from the Halloween party) and hung it on the hook. Since then I’ve hung other things on the hook but Andrew considers the pink ring the right thing and that’s all he wants on it.
“Take a picture,” Andrew says and puts the lizard on the table in front of me.
I took a picture.
“What’s the matter Andrew?” I asked when I saw his face all scrunched up.
“That,” he says pointing at my camera. I think the flash bothered him, what do you think?
The morning went smooth and drama free. At lunch Andrew ate a little cucumber but mostly just wanted his apple. I think he might have eaten just one piece of the chicken I put on his plate so it’s lucky he had help with his lunch.
I’m sitting at the table and I see some stuff on the rug. I should get out the dust buster, I think then I remember that it’s noise scares Andrew.
What would happen if I let Andrew do it? I wondered.
“Andrew,” I called to get his attention. “You see that thing on the rug right there?” and I pointed to it.
“Um hum,” he says with his mouth closed.
“Why don’t you get the little vacuum out and pick it up?”
Andrew starts looking for the vacuum! Wonder of wonders! It was working! I pointed to the bottom shelf of the rack where the dust buster lives. “It’s right there.”
Andrew came over and picked up it up. He had to use two hands.
Now the moment of truth. “You have to turn it on,” I told him. “Right there,” and I showed him the slide switch but he couldn’t manage it. I turned it on while he held it and I wouldn’t have been surprised had he dropped it and ran away but he didn’t. Once on, he went around and picked up all the little bits of stuff off the carpet.
Maybe being in control of the beast made it less scary?
Ginger didn’t care who was on the end of that noisy monster, she didn’t want anything to do with it and took shelter on her daddy’s lap.
Finally nap time rolls around. “Let’s take a little nap.”
“No,” he says vehemently shaking his head. He was holding a little dinosaur and started rolling it around in his fingers.
“Come on. Let’s change your bottom and lay down for a little bit.”
He screws his little face up, his eyes start to get red, his chin quivers and he’s trying hard to hold back the tears.
“No.” And the tears spill down his cheeks.
“Yes.” I got a dry diaper and changed him, talking to him the whole time. “After you nap we can play in the water,” I tell him. Andrew loves to get up to the sink with all the little plastic dishes Pop-pop and I bought him. Unfortunately pink and white was the only color scheme I could find but Andrew doesn’t seem to mind.
“No,” he sniffles and wipes his eyes on his arm.
I get him put back together, pitch the diaper, wash my hands and turn to Andrew who just sat there looking miserable at the prospect of a nap.
“Come on.”
“No.”
“Andrew let’s go lay on Pop-pop’s bed.”
“No,” and the tears start again.
“Yes, just for a little while. You don’t have to nap but let’s lay down for just a few minutes.”
“No, no,” he says as I reach for him.
I take Andrew in the RV and set him down. “You wanna lay down under the table in Itsy’s bed?” I ask him.
“No.”
This was not getting us anyplace! “Okay, where would you like to lay down?”
He turns and points at the drivers seat. Okay, I think to myself, he wants to lay on the floor under the steering wheel. I get a blanket and a little pillow and Andrew sits down on the step by the seats in the front of the RV. “There you go,” I said when I had a bed made. I thought it was what he wanted and expected he would just climb into the little nest.
“No,” he says shaking his head.
“Yes. You have to lay down for a little bit.”
Andrew points at the drivers seat. “You want to sit in Pop-pop’s seat?”
“Yeah.”
Finally!
“Okay, come on.”
Andrew, still holding his dinosaur, climbs in the seat, still a little weepy and wiping at his eyes. I turned off the lights and sat in the other seat, in front of my computer and as I work I watch out the corner of my eye as he quiets. Before long he shifts a little and slumps over. That does not look comfortable, I think and wait a little longer until he’s really sleeping then I get up, take his picture and move him a little so he is more laying in the seat. I found a little blanket and covered him and he slept for two hours!
When Andrew woke up we got out all his little dishes and I put the step stool up to the sink. Andrew stripped down to his diaper, I put the stopper in the sink, got a nice slow flow of water going and he filled the tea pot and dumped water into cups then filled the teapot again and again even drinking from the teapot. Once the sink was full I shut the water off. He got down and got his dinosaurs and made plates into floating islands. Then he got down again and came back with some little cars and trucks who found islands of their own. Andrew is clever and creative and I enjoy watching his antics. Forty-five minutes later his daddy came to get him.
“How’s Pat?” you wonder.
Later on that evening there was an update on Facebook. Pat came through the surgery, was in a lot of post-op pain but maintained her sense of humor. And just so you have a face to go with a name, this is a pre-op photo that Krysten, Kandyce’s twin, took of their mom.
Andrew gave me my name, Mimi, his other grandma, Pat is Ma-ma and his Aunt Krysten is Chichi.
Now speaking of children…
Let me introduce you to the newest member of our family.
Kaydence Ann Coe came into the world on January 11th at six-o-six pm weighing eight pounds, one ounce . Kaydence’s parents are Tylar, our grandson...
and his woman Maddison Bylerey.
Isn’t Kaydence a beauty!
And with that, we shall call this one done.
Lots and lots of love,
Peg and Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment