Congratulations, @FallGirl! A baby girl! Wonderful! I’m glad you were able to hold your precious granddaughter! Enjoy every snuggle.
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My GD says all of her grandparents’ names … but mine. She has a sign instead. My H used to keep a picture of me on his desk at work, and he put it on a shelf in our family room when he retired. GD has adored the picture from the start, and she loves to kiss it. It’s ten years old, and I look a lot different now (including long, gray hair instead of short, reddish hair) … but she knows it’s me. The picture was done by a professional & it’s posed. The photographer had me rest my chin on my knuckles. Every time GD sees the picture, she touches her hand to her chin. Now that she’s talking, she touches her hand to her chin whenever she sees me & whenever she’s asked to say my name. I feel very special!
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I love this @kelsmom !
I realized toddlers live in the moment and do great mindfulness.
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DD and her husband are going to a one day marriage seminar Saturday, given by people they respect and know quite well. So I get to spend time with the grands and doing the parents a favor. I come in Friday afternoon, as they leave early Saturday (seminar is out of town). Always good time with the grands. The youngest, who turns one in August, doesn’t ‘know’ me as well as the other two (who I was nanny for during 10 weeks/Covid when their daycare was closed). So very helpful to have special time with these three!
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I babysat GD for 5 days while mom and dad were at a wedding. I took her to a park and an older kid took a toy from her. The kid mom saw the whole thing and didn’t say anything. GD (18 months old) went up to the kid and pushed her. The kid started crying. (she was not hurt)
I half heartedly said, “it’s not nice to push” to GD, but I was thinking, “you go girl.”
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D1 just tested positive for Covid. She has been going into work everyday with her new job. I
They sent their nanny home. D1 is quarantined in a bedroom and SIL is the sole caretaker for the GD now. I just FaceTime them. The apartment looked like it was hit by a typhoon. SIL said they were just trying to survive. He is actually hoping he would be tested positive so D1 could come out of quarantine to help out.
I had GD at our house for the day. She seemed a little tired, sneezed a bunch & had a runny nose later in the day. By the time she got home, she had a fever (100.3). D had a runny nose, too, so she decided to do a Covid test. Positive. GD very likely has it, as well. She had croup at the start of the summer, so the after hours nurse at the pediatrician’s office told D to watch for breathing issues. SIL is masked up & staying away, but it may already be too late.
D1 is feeling much better. She is out in the apartment every once in a while with a mask on, just so the GD could see her mommy. I am having both fingers crossed that SIL and GD won’t get it. They are not out of the woods yet.
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@oldfort My daughter went through the same thing last month. Husband had covid while in the UK for his grandmothers funeral in June, so stayed there until safe to fly home. When daughter was positive last month, she slept in the guest bedroom, but did come out when daughter was home; kept her distance and masked. 3 year old GD never was tested positive; don’t know if that was due to the masking, her one vax, or sheer luck!
Short of leaving the house, it is hard to explain to a toddler why they can’t see a parent that is in the home, so this was their best solution. Truth be known, people are going to be contagious before symptoms, so GD was hugging and kissing mom the day before mom showed symptoms. GD received her second vax on mom’s 6th day of testing positive. She was tested almost daily after mom was positive and a couple of days after her vax.
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D1 was vaccinated when she was breastfeeding. I am hoping GD will get some sort of protection.
@snowball, it is very hard to tell a toddler why they can’t see their mommy.
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The grandkids were terrific. The evening (while parents were home) and full day with them went well. The oldest a time or two wanted to direct what she could do and once I said “Remember Nana is in charge while mommy and daddy are away” she immediately was compliant. Found out from DD that there are times when she has had to lay down that “mom is in charge”. Once, GD announced that a particular friend was going to sleep over that night - no, nothing was arranged between parents, but GD thought that since she wanted it, it was going to happen!
3 YO GS was totally good on potty all day long - he even announced when he had to go potty to poop and no problems. DD said he had a big accident a few weeks ago that was a big mess.
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GD with Covid woke up in good spirits, but clearly with croup (she had it in the spring). D is very fortunate to have a pediatrician who is open on Sunday morning for urgent issues, has an opening, and will allow Covid-positive mom to bring her in. Thank heavens for vaccines, because I don’t think that she would be going to her regular pediatrician earlier in the pandemic.
Just finished 4 days with GD (2 1/2). Mom and dad were at a wedding. She’s fun, chatty, and spunky, but boy can she be strong-willed. She also is hugely into her grandpa these days and she only wanted him and sobbed when he wasn’t around. Not gonna lie - it was a little hurtful and I indulged in a little self-pity. Her behavior was appropriate. Mine wasn’t.
5 month old GS (different family) ended up in the hospital this week with RSV/bronchiolitis). 2 days in the PICU and 2 days on the regular floor. It was heartbreaking to see him with an IV and tubes coming out of all sorts of places. He’s home now and back to his smiley self.
It was a very hectic week on the grandparent front. I need a vacation.
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That’ sounds rough. Rest up so you can do it again!
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Just got home from dinner with D, SIL & 2 1/2 year old GD. GD was full of herself this evening and very bossy. D & I are taking a trip over Labor Day weekend and D was jokingly telling SIL that she might not come back as scheduled on Labor Day, but might wait until this toddler stage was over. Thank goodness GD goes to bed by 7 so her parents can rest up to do it all over again the next day.
Glad your GS is doing better. I hope this week is calm for your family!
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First of all, glad the GS is doing better. I still remember being overnight in the hospital with my S when he was 13 months old (not PICU) and it is so stressful!
Now, that Grandpa thing. My GD had a spate of that preference too, at that age, and yes, it did get to me more than it should have. My take, though, is that the grandfathers put more work into the “playing” thing–my H always has some sort of toy in his pocket and will ignore anything else around when vying for attention of the grands. I, on the other hand, am often doing “mother” things–helping with lunch, taking to go potty, etc and support the boundaries and wishes of my D. H will pull out the stops for attention. I also tend to be checking in with D, if she is there with us, and talking to her as much as I do the kids.
Good news is that the GD appreciates us both more as she gets older (almost 4 now), and really loves the “rock” that I represent. She knows that I know her routines and preferences and that really matters.
So I totally understand your feelings (you don’t have to apologize for them!) and i think it will get better. My H even said, about a year ago when GD sort of dissed me “Believe me, she knows it is safe to get away with that because the bond is that strong”.
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Thanks everyone for your support. H is nothing more than a big kid himself. This morning, I came into the kitchen to find him watching GD empty the ice maker, cube by cube, into the kitchen sink. Only thing is - about 20 of the cubes failed to make it into the sink and were melting on the floor. It never occurred to him to stop her behavior and redirect GD. Some of his current behavior isn’t much different than his behavior when our kids were young. I’ve always been the enforcer, planner, schedule-minder, etc. I’ve gotten used to playing good cop/bad cop with my H. Sometimes I visualize myself as some evil Disney villainess.
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My daughter was a micro preemie, so had lots of tubes and heel sticks and IVs. I chose to look at her and think “TG for modern medicine.”
She received medicine by IV to prevent RSV the winter months she was 1 and 2 years old. One month she had to have the IV put in 7 times (it took about 7 hours total). I made it though the first 4 but then had to leave when they were looking for veins in her head. TG for the nurses too.
My dad always had candies in his back pocket. D1 went through a period where she wanted my dad to do everything for her. D1 was heartbroken when my dad passed away unexpectedly. It’s special.