It was one of those days. We were babysitting our little two year old granddaughter, Selah. We look forward to her antics, but I’m beginning to think we are not really a match for her. Not even when we are doing double duty together!
First to get her into her car seat, when the wind is blowing at knock-out speeds. Grandpa is holding on to her while I try to put the seat belt through the car seat. All of a sudden I see her in the front seat, standing by the steering wheel. What??? I turn around to see Grandpa wink at me and say, “ She got away! “ Yup, I can see that. After I get the seat belt connected and pulled tight, I have to struggle with her to get her into the back seat and settled in. Whew! I am tired already, and it has only been 15 minutes!!
That hurdle made, we drive toward the implement shop to retrieve some parts for the combine. It will be a quick stop, and Selah is now singing in a quiet voice. All is well. She loves the movie, Frozen. However, instead of singing, “Let it Go”….in perfect tune she instead sings out, “ Go Away”. Too funny, and I think it might just have some hidden meaning! Especially since she has sung it to me before, while at the swimming pool last summer when she was heading straight toward the deep end of the pool…after we had been playing just fine in the shallow end for a couple hours.
Once we had gotten the parts, stopped for a fill of gas, and bought some donuts for a later treat, we headed for home. Since it was early in the morning, our first stop was the kitchen to make some scrambled eggs. As I began cracking eggs into a bowl, Selah snatched an extra one. Before I could grab it, she threw it to the floor. Grandpa came to the rescue and got that wiped up with a paper towel. She immediately headed for the bread, and brought the sack to me for the toaster. She loves honey toast, and gave us both a big grin when we popped the bread in to toast.
She will still remain seated in the high chair, so we will continue to use that restraint until it no longer works! I lifted her in, slid a bib over her head, and left to fetch her plate of eggs, toast, and sliced apples. By the time I returned in a couple seconds, she had the bib off, but was still ready to eat. Bib back on, for my sake mostly, she ate like a trooper. Thankfully she is a good eater. When done, she pointed to the pumpkin cookie jar. I told her no, not right now. Maybe later. She seemed good with that for the time being.
We played with play-doh, crayons, and Jenga blocks. It was quite a cool morning and terribly windy, so inside activities would have to suffice. Her very favorite place in the world is anywhere OUTSIDE. Especially the swing set. She absolutely loves a large cloth swing that we brought back from a vacation some years ago. Once she is in that and flying back and forth, all you have to do is KEEP PUSHING. It is great for awhile, until your arms need a break. Then she loves the slide, which she can pretty much maneuver herself. Maybe just a couple helpful pushes to make the wooden steps to the top. Or bubbles…she loves to watch them pop out of the little plastic wands, only to land in the blades of grass.
Later that day, when the sun had started to shine and the wind died down a little, we headed for the gravel pile. She enjoyed the spoons and buckets, along with the very old toys that I think her daddy played with many moons ago! All of a sudden a little toad jumped out at her! She shrieked and jumped back, but then she moved toward it to see where it was going. I picked it up to show her up close, and I did get her to touch it. But not for long. So we let it hop away to safety. After she had a few seconds petting Holly, our 15 year old Border Collie/Australian Sheppard, we headed back into the house.
While I quickly changed a load of laundry, I heard some clanking noises in the dining room rocking chair. I thought I’d better investigate sooner than later, and she had somehow managed to pull the two piece pumpkin cookie jar off the kitchen cupboard, lug it to the rocking chair, and was examining the insides to see what goodies she could find. Crazily it was still all intact, and she was delighted to find some chocolate covered graham crackers to munch on. I still can’t believe she carried that thing over twenty feet without dropping it on that hard tile floor.
Selah does take a nap in the afternoon, and sometimes I must admit I take one too. One must renew their energy when time allows! After her nap on that busy day, she wanted to watch Toy Story. We read that book a lot together, and she loves to see the movie. She is infatuated with Buzz Lightyear and Woody! Once she crawled into her favorite chair, covered up with a blanket, and was watching peacefully, I decided to hurry and make an apple pie. I peaked in on her every few minutes, and all seemed fine. When I had just sealed the top crust, I heard her little feet moving around. Better check, once more. To my surprise, she had stripped her clothes and diaper off, and was standing watching Buzz and Woody without a lick of clothing on. That had not happened on our watch before, but it sure made me laugh.
This is our youngest grandchild, but the first one that we have had the fun and privilege of keeping for any length of time. Most of the years our grandkids have lived too far away for us to baby sit on a regular basis. It is keeping us on our toes, and maybe young at heart! Too soon she will be in school and our times of frolicking with her will be a thing of the past.
Until then, we will look forward to more surprises and happy grins when Selah comes to visit.
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