Granddaddy and Grandmomma reporting for duty...

Wednesday, November 28, 2007
We thought we were supposed to be at The Little Princesses’ house today at 11:30. Mommy called and said we were to report for duty at 9:30. She had a beauty appointment before her meeting for a staff meeting at the office.

Mommy called at around 12:00 and told me she was supposed to be there at 1:00, she guessed and had gotten the time wrong. She was going to work for an hour before the meeting and then would be back home around 3:00 or 3:30, depending on what time she could sneak out of the office.

The following is a a list of some of the fun things we did today:
I was straightening up in the kitchen when I heard The Little Princess coming through the office calling, “Ganmomma!” Very plainly. She was looking for me. And found me.

She has found the buttons on our clothes. She points to hers and mine and Granddaddy’s. Anything with buttons she likes to point out. And just smiles so big.
She was back in the bathroom again today trying out the water faucet. And she put her little hand underneath. I worry about it because the hot water is nearest to her and it won’t take long to heat up and burn that sweet baby’s hand.

She and I were trying to get her to sleep…No, I was trying to get her to sleep...She was enjoying reading her books. She would take my pointing finger with her hand over my hand and moved it about on the book. I guess she got bored or tired of pointing to it alone, or maybe she thought I needed to be more pro-active in the book reading session.

Her Mommy says their routine is to read a book, share the book with Teddy Bear and Carly, her new Cabbage Patch newborn baby she got from Uncle Ken and Aunt Katie for her birthday, and whatever else she deems necessary. And, of course, her paci, which is only allowed at nap time or bedtime and sometimes at melt-down time. With me it was drop a book, pick it up, drop Teddy, pick him up, drop Carly, and on and on until one of us is worn out and it isn’t the Little Princess. She’s getting taller now and it’s difficult to see over her little head. Music from the CD must be playing in the background, repeat button pushed at least two times (I punched an extra few times just to be on the safe side.) Oh, and her noise-maker needs to be on.

Some of the routine helped a little and she was more satisfied today than yesterday, but she still fights those naps. One time I checked on her and there she stands with her face to the wall. I knew then she had dropped that silly pacifier overboard again, just like yesterday. I had to get on my hands and knees and fish that thing out from under the bed. All the time, I was telling her, that was it...no more paci if she drops it over again! She doesn't want to sleep because she’s sure we’re having more fun than she is.

Later in the day we took her out for lunch at The Piccadilly Cafeteria. She was an angel. She ate with her little fingers just like you would expect and ate quite a lunch for a change. It’s not every day a girl gets to eat Carrot Souffle’, yummy macaroni and cheese, fried okra and pinto beans. Ok, so she gets the pinto beans occasionally, but the sweet stuff and high carb foods are not a part of her daily diet. So she really chowed down. Sometimes I would feed her some of her food by placing it on her spoon (it had to be sticky enough to hold on) and she would tip that spoon upside down to her little mouth and most times it would go right where it was supposed to go. You may remember this was a trick we learned yesterday. But the hand is faster when you’re hungry. Skip that nonsense of using spoons.

She loves to observe. Anything that is where her little back is turned to, she's sure there's something more interesting going on behind her. I turn her the way I think she will see the most activity and something totally different will catch her eye and she squirms around in that seat, covering the cloth seat her mommy insists we carry, and smears it with mac and cheese, carrot soufflé, etc.

She finished her meal off with her usual round of Cheerios. That’s her dessert. I watched her as she carefully placed them one by one on her teaspoon and raised them to her mouth…upside down. I don’t think many made it into her mouth, but she was trying.

While we were in there she caught the eye of a young man who made me think of her Daddy. He shot her a big grin like her Daddy does and she just fell in love. Her face was covered with a smile like none other. She is such a little flirt! But she's a little social butterfly with anyone else who talks to her, too. She loved having some more ladies come over to the table and speak to her.

After returning to the house she was beginning to get a bit irritable because it was her naptime soon after we got back from eating. I was trying to keep her awake so Mommy could feed her again and put her down. I was on the phone talking with her Mommy when I made the mistake of mentioning she hadn’t had all of her juice and I was trying to keep it from her. She went around looking for it and couldn’t find it. She was really fussing. Her Mommy could hear her in the background and wanted to know what I had done to make her so mad. She said that was her 'really ticked off attitude'. And she was stringing lots of words together. None that I really understood, but they were out there. She was not happy at all.

To distract her, I kept telling her Mommy was on the way home in just a little while. She and I sat by the window and watched for her Mommy. When she saw that car just before her Mommy pulled in the driveway, you could see that sweet smile lurking underneath her paci that I had finally given her. She was so glad to see her Mommy.

It was a good day, but I’m sure she was glad to see it end. At least that part of it.