Shortly after Halloween my son and his wife, Amy, were off for a weekend retreat. We were happy to watch the three grandkids for a couple of nights. We’re always grateful for the opportunity to spend time with them so this was a treat in more ways than one. What a warm welcome full of squeals and hugs we received as we entered their front door. We were laden with homemade blueberry muffins, banana bread and their favorite chocolate chip ice cream.
On our agenda of fun things to do was a plan for the two girls (Jaci, age 11 and Gabby, age 9) to get their ears pierced, compliments of CiCi. I still owed my 11 year old from way last Christmas. We had tried numerous times to get the job done but life kept getting in the way. And the nine year old begged for piercing as a gift to her for Christmas this year. Thought we’d kill two birds with one stone. But upon calling the store that does the piercings I learned that a parent or legal guardian must accompany the kids. I even suggested we get the parent on the phone to approve the procedure but, nope, nothing or nobody else would suffice. The disappointment for all concerned was evident by the long faces and a brief period of quiet. (And I do mean brief.)
I thought what a nice treat it would be to get tattoos for all three children and what a surprise that would be for Amy and Brad. But I thought better of that idea as it would be more of a death wish for me! I’m just kidding about the tattoos but I truly did consider going to Walmart or wherever and buying the ones that wash off. I was going to tell their parents that since there was a tattoo parlor right next door to the piercing store I felt obligated to do something special for the kids. Ya know in thinking my way through that one it occurred to me with a little bad luck I’d wind up with the defective batch that wouldn’t wash off…then what?
Since the weather was absolutely gorgeous we headed out to a pretty little park close to their house. Here they were able to work off some of the letdown resulting from the passing on the piercing. Another positive thing about the park outing was being a time eater away from home…away from their Halloween stash. If I had a dollar for every time I heard the words, “CiCi, can we pleeeez have some of our candy now?” I’d be a wealthy woman. Much of their world revolves around eating snacks, wearing you down to allow them to watch a movie and begging for more snacks. So we try to take their minds off of the same old routine by playing games such as UNO or the kids’ version of Monopoly etc. But this diversion only works for what seems like a short while. Then the sugar high from the candy and snacks you allowed just before kick in and they begin bouncing off the walls. The saving grace is the trampoline out back that they attack with a vengeance until it also loses its allure.
Speaking of trampolines…the next day, shortly after breakfast the, “Can we pleeeez have some of our candy now?” syndrome started up. So it only made sense to take them to a trampoline park which is what we did for a couple of hours. Truly a sanity saver!
That night the children were nestled all snug in their beds while visions of KitKats danced in their heads. And my husband had also hit the hay. I stayed up for some CiCi time with Netflix. TV always makes me hungry and I’m afraid a bit of the kid’s wayward ways had rubbed off on me. I wanted candy and nothing else would do! All those apples, oranges and grapes in the kitchen had no appeal. Next month I’ll let you know what a truly BAD GRANDMA does when she has no will power and is craving sweets.
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