I am Grandma first some and my husband is Pop first name. The grandpas were both Grandpa but first granddaughter called them Pop and it stuck. I spent three days with my sons family watching granddaughters (2.5 yo and 8 months) while my son and his wife went to work (usual babysitter is the other grandma who was on a trip). I was on my own for about 9 hours each day. It is a lot harder now that the 8 month old is crawling. The older one goes to preschool half day twice a week and the preschool day was so much easier than the non-preschool day. My house is a fairly small one level ranch and the front yard, backyard and neighborhood are flat. Their house is two story on a hill. There are just so many more obstacles that I didn’t have to deal with with my kids.
My first name starts with “P”.
Grandma + P[myname] ——> G.P. —-> Jeepie
So I’m Jeepie 
Some of oldest granddaughter’s favorite books belonged to her dad when he was little. Real books that I kept. That just makes me so happy. It’s priceless to me.
I recirculate books too. DD/SIL have not monitored their children well, so instead of just having them have access to the cardboard style books by themselves, some nice books have had pages torn or torn out. I was reading stories to the 3 YO and 2 YO and found the 2nd page of the table of context was torn out completely, and a few other pages in the large book was missing as well. I attribute this to SIL who is clueless in many ways. DD realized she could not leave 2 YO with him over several days (for DD to attend grandparents’ funeral service states away - we brought the 2 YO along) while she could with the 3 YO last summer. SIL has ‘learned’ more, and over a fall family wedding, also several states away, he could handle both kids (while we took the 3 week old baby who is being breast fed) - the wedding and reception were adults only. I kept the baby in the hotel room - the trip was a nice treat for DD and me. I still was able to see family that came to the wedding.
And if you celebrate Christmas or Channuka it’s a pain because as soon as you figure out what to get for your grandchildren for their birthdays, it’s time to order Chrismas presents!
Yup. My daughter, son, and granddaughter are all in this time period. And my late mother and mother-in-law were also. By Christmas, I’m exhausted. It was worse when my own kids were young, since there were family parties, kid parties, cupcakes to school, all the presents, etc. to be in charge of. Good thing I WAS young then.
Twins joined the Moderna vaccination trial for young children today.
They had an appointment at the local children’s hospital at 8:30 am. They got a full physical work-up first: complete physical exam, blood draw to test for Covid antibodies, deep nasal swab for a Covid PCR test. Then each got an injection.
The study has 3 arms–placebo, higher vaccine dose, lower vaccine dose. They get a second shot in about a month and will be followed for year with blood draws to test antibody levels for every 2-3 months.
D said they lots of swag for being part of the drug trial–each child got a backpack with stuffed animal, fleece blanket and snacks. Mom got a a loaner cell phone since she needs to record any symptoms/side effects via an app and she can’t use the same phone to report on 2 different children.
Twin B has a quarter-sized red blotch on her thigh where she got her injection, but it’s hard to tell right now if it’s a reaction to the vaccine or a bruise. (Don’t worry–Mom is a doctor so if she’s having a vaccine reaction Mom knows how to handle it.)
Vaccine trial follow-up.
At least one baby got a real vaccine (or so mom thinks) because one twin had a low grade fever last night. (100.4. The other twin was 99.7–which is higher than her baseline, but isn’t high enough to qualify as an actual fever.) Both got Tylenol before bed.
This morning–everyone seems to be doing fine. Twin A has been grumpier than usual, but there could be lots of reasons for that.
@WayOutWestMom It’s great that your daughter has enrolled her twins into a vaccine trial. Hope everyone is feeling less grumpy soon.
Very thankful for families like your D’s who are helping make this happen. I can’t WAIT for my grandkids to be eligible. We hope the baby has antibodies from Mom, but worry about the about to be 3 year old who doesn’t have any. Thank your D for me!
So grateful to have had Thanksgiving with all four of my grandchildren. So blessed.
For Chinese we have different names for woman side’s parents vs man’s side. It’s also the case for aunts and uncles, so there is no confusing.
I am my granddaughter’s mom is my daughter, so she calls me Po-Po (long O).
My granddaughter is 10 months old, not verbal yet, but very mobile through crawling and walking while holding on to something.
She loves to touch things she is not supposed to. The other day she was going after her dad’s liquor bottles again. Every time she went near it, one of us would say, “ugh ugh ugh, don’t touch it.” The third time her dad said it, she flopped her face down on the sofa with her arms out stretched. We then heard her slowly worked up to a cry. It was the worst fake cry I have ever heard.
I told D1 that if she could put up such a big show at 10 months, wait until she is older.
My 2 year old GD has perfected the fake cry! Usually she has a smirk on her face while doing so; a dead give away that she is faking. This is usually followed by her mother, out of child’s ear shot, referring to her as a little s**t! This child is smart and remembers everything she hears, so you can not talk in front of her unless you wanted it repeated. If Art Linkletter were still around, she would be featured on his show, Kids Say the Darndest Things. 
Both of my kids, spouse, and daughters were here for Thanksgiving, so were had a house full. As everyone one wanted to see them, we ended up with 3 different meals with family, and 2 visitors to the house. My son said it was all too much, even though he and his sister planned 2 of the dinners out. Next visit, people will have to come to us as it was too much for the little girls, and one dad. 
I planned to stay home from work today to get the house back in order; linens changed, towel washed, toys put away, and cleaning, especially the finger prints on every surface from a 2.5 and 3 year old. Maybe a short nap in a bit if there is time!
Last year we bought a Step2 Christmas tree for GD and had it out when we babysat this weekend. She lined up the ornaments to “count” (1,2,3,4,5 can turn into EIEIO sometimes.) Then she decided to play catch with them. I hope her parents put up her Step2 tree at home and protect the big tree with the baby corral. I think it would be too much of a temptation for a little one to resist.
I have no idea how it happened, but neither of our kids messed with the Christmas trees. (And they were usually into everything.). They loved the trees & enjoyed playing near/under them, but they left the ornaments alone. We got lucky. Hopefully, GD will be the same … but no guarantees on that, since they already had to remove all ornaments within her reach.
Very cute picture. It’s great that CC allows pictures to be inserted.
Any stroller suggestions- they live in an area where they will likely use the stroller multiple times a day. They are also walking distance to the grocery store and other shopping. House is one story with just a few step porch so weight isn’t an issue.
Nuna Triv compact stroller
Nuna Pipa Rx infant car seat
7am enfant blanket
D1 lives at a brownstone. They carry the stroller up and down with one hand while holding the baby.
I like the enfant blanket. It’s very warm and it is very integrated with the stroller.
Thank you.
They don’t have a local place to look at things in the store. They have looked at the UppaBaby strollers but haven’t had a chance to find a place with Nuna products. My daughter is overwhelmed trying to make decisions for her registry before her shower next month. There are so many products out there and of course any knowledge I have is years out of date.