The best baby-sitters
Even toddlers seem more adept at computers than some of the Baby Boomers. April 2015
“The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby’s grandparents. You feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long periods, which is why most grandparents flee to Florida.” ― Dave Barry
OK, you can blame this post on Jeff. I preempted the post I had originally scheduled for this date, because Jeff told me that I was creating too many posts about flowers. “Hmmm,” I thought, “What on earth could be more interesting than flowers?” The answer, not surprisingly, was “Grady!” Now, of course I realize that Grady is way more interesting to me than to anyone who is likely to read this, but that’s just one of the perks of being the blogger, hee-hee.
As regards Dave Barry’s quote above: the first part is true. The second is certainly not ALWAYS true, since I would never flee to Florida to escape our grandson. In fact, it would more likely work the other way if we didn’t already live so far from them. But I take every opportunity I can to go see them, and it just so happens that I have some recent photos of a night I actually was able to babysit for Grady for just a couple of hours.
The time flew by! In fact, by the time I was able to pry Grady away from my new touch screen computer, which he promptly figured out how to work about as well as I know how to work it after having had it since Christmas, we barely had any time left for the usual grandparent-grandchild activities such as reading books, singing songs and trashing the house.
Grady strikes a favorite playtime pose.
But we did manage to squeeze in some time for one of Grady’s new favorite activities, blocks. As you can see in this video clip, Grady is not only attentive to the instructions I gave him (NOT!), but also finds novel ways to improve on my ideas. I got even with him though, since he obviously thought I was setting up a Skype session with PaPa there at the end, when really I was just filming his cute little face for posterity.
At nearly 21 months old, Grady already is adept at convincing me to disregard his bedtime. We were totally busted when Mom and Dad came home at 9:30 (bedtime was 9) and found us still reading bedtime stories. Fortunately, the best people for whom to baby-sit are your own children. They tend to be quite patient with a little rule-bending as long as everyone stays safe and happy, and they get a break from the stress that inevitably comes with even the most loving relationships. They generally appreciate having a little time away from the baby, too.
This post was first published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: babies, babysitting, children, families, fun, generations, grandfather, grandmother, grandparents, parenting, play, young at heart
Defeat Despair 
What a cutie pie.
Thank you, he really was a cute baby.
Grady has such big beautiful eyes! I love this cute video that shows how he loves the physical play of knocking things down. Grandma’s careful teaching of how to align blocks to make a tower wasn’t nearly as fun as the joy of whacking them apart. That so much reminds me of the way my grandsons were at that age.
Happy Mother’s Day from one mother and grandmother to another! Sometimes Mother’s Day is complicated in ways that we keep private. Yet it’s a good day to remember that we’re blessed to have the experience of being a mom and even a grandma. And we can encourage other mothers too. It’s a bond that women share and understand.
Thank you, Judy. I agree!
What a sweet post, Julia!
Small kids definitely love to exhibit their excellent skills as a formidable force of destruction! Block towers don’t stand a chance, and as you mentioned, they can utterly trash a house in the time it takes to go for dinner and a movie (especially with the help of supportive grandparents)!
I know their minds are also busily working to sort each new experience, so I figure all that block-toppling must be beneficial somehow! Most likely, they are surveying just whose blocks they can topple, and who won’t stand for it?
Yes, some kids start out very early setting their own boundaries and rules that adults have to follow, to a greater or lesser extent. I love how he used his feet for the “attack”– not sure whether it was a stealth move, or just practicing some primal form of karate, but it was funny at the time and is funny still.