Hahaha! Sounds like our kids. The first time they went out for dinner after their daughter was born, they came home rather early. I said I could have babysat much longer! To which they replied they were falling asleep at the restaurant! 
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The same for my D and SIL! My D will reply they are old and tired at the ripe old age of 37. 
The last time they made an effort to stay out and were home at 10:00. What they like the best is when my GD spends the night so they can stay home, watch a movie, go to be early, and sleep in. I will have her Sunday night since there is no work or school Monday.
My S and DIL go out a lot, and stay out; as they live in another state, I don’t have to do that babysitting, they have 2 great sitters.
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We had little GD today and got a look at what thirteen may look like. Her dad lets her wear whatever she wants, regardless of the weather, so she often comes here on cold days wearing a short sleeve dress, light jacket, and no hat or mittens. Today I insisted that she wear a fleece top over her dress (I knew that taking the dress off was clearly not happening.) She was not happy. When pitching a fit was met with a calm non-reaction she gave up, then put her hands on her hips, tossed her head and harrumphed at me. She stomped off to play on the opposite side of the sunroom. H and I were ignored for about 10 minutes, then she needed help with something and decided to let H assist her. It was about half an hour later before I was back in her good graces and she snuggled up next to me on the couch.
H had his own encounter with attitude when little GD demanded his help after lunch. He reminded her to say please and she gave him a hard stare then firmly said, “No!” He waited for her to decide to ask nicely and instead she managed to take care of the problem herself. I’m pretty sure I saw a smirk.
It’s lovely to have the GDs come and it’s often a relief when they go home.
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My 4 year old GD has an attitude, as well. The other day, she wanted help pushing up her Deebie’s Freezie Pop. It sort of squirted out & some got in her hair. When I took her home later that day, she told D that she would need a bath because your mother got Freezie Pop in my hair. Guess that was a bigger deal than I thought when I said, “Oops, sorry,” & picked up the errant piece of Freezie Pop!
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Only in my case, since I live with them, they never go home.
The 2 YO will crawl thru the cat hole in the baby gate the top of the stairs to my apartment to come wake me up at Dark O’clock if I’m not at the breakfast table when he’s eating breakfast. He marches into my bedroom and insistently tells me, “Gramma, get up. Gramma, get up. It’s breakfast.” Then he’ll crawl up on top of me in bed if I don’t get up fast enough for him.
I love GS dearly, but I am not a morning person. Especially at 6:15 am.
Then there are the twin tornadoes, Twin A and Twin B who just. DO. NOT. STOP. EVER.
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3 1/2 YO GS2 and 1 1/2 YO GD2 share a room, and when the older child opens the door to get up in the morning to go to the bathroom and then play (if it is a Sat/Sun the parents might still be sleeping in until maybe 7:30 am or so), the 1 1/2 YO has quietly gone about the house wherever she desired, including the main level. DD1 said she once came downstairs to find her in the middle of the dining room table. The older two kids get up, go to the bathroom, and quietly play until parents get up as well. If the older kids are up, they will watch for GD2, and GD1 will awake parent(s) and report if there are issues with the younger kids.
M - F, SIL needs to leave the house at 4:30 am. DD1 on school days (and her M - F workdays) needs to feed the older two breakfast before taking the toddlers to daycare and drop off the older two at school - leave the house by 6:20 am. The older two have attended a summer program at the daycare, so DD has been able to give them all a breakfast bar (and baby the bottle) and leave the house by 6:30 am (otherwise traffic gets too heavy) - they get hot breakfast and lunch at day care. DD has to pack a school lunch for the older two, so she has to have that ready. SIL and DD both pack themselves their work lunches.
The kids are used to early to bed and early to rise. Friday and Saturday evenings they do keep them up longer - typically the kids can watch a movie or kid shows. The family also likes watching college football (specific teams and generally SEC as well) and especially pro football if Green Bay Packers are playing. When DH and/or I are there, help with some of the timing for getting out the door on time, and have the time with the older kids when school is out of session.
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GD1 is not allowed to get out of the bed until someone goes to get her. The flip side is she’ll keep calling for someone until goes to get her. It is the reason GD2 is not sleeping in the same room with GD1 yet. GD2 wakes up around 8 and GD1 wakes up around 7.
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Those stories make me tired already, and no young kids live with me now! Oy I certainly remember the rush to get out with breakfasts, lunches, etc. to beat traffic.
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I used to joke that the reason we started homeschooling was because I hated the morning rush to get the kids to school. It was surprising how many people took me seriously.
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We know a family with 11 kids, and that’s exactly why they homeschooled. They said that it was far easier than trying to get all those kids where they needed to be!
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I truly hope they were kidding. I only had two to homeschool and that was challenging enough.
Before older GD began kindergarten, D and SiL suggested that I homeschool their kids. No thank you. When it was brought up again, I told them that I want to enjoy being a grandma.
SiL has yet to encounter an internet rumor or outright lie that he hasn’t believed. Sadly, he’s persuaded D to buy into far too much of his nonsense. I avoid those conversations except when they may directly adversely effect our GDs. Last year, D and I toured the church affiliated school they were considering and she found even it too “woke” for their liking. I reminded her that the signs and students’ work that was posted could all be boiled down to the command to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31) which ended her eye rolls. They did end up choosing that school. We pay for it, in part to remove any temptation to homeschool for financial reasons even though they could afford the tuition.
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Homeschool done correctly is a lot of work but can be excellent with the right teacher(s) and setting. I have friends whose kids are homeschooling their kids in OKC. Both moms take it very seriously and work hard to teach their kids. Both moms are highly educated and may even do some joint sessions as the kids are similarly aged.
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I was invited to D’s yesterday to distract kids while she made dinner. 16 month old GS was actually quite good, but as he started to get antsy, I asked if we could put Elmo on and D said okay. It was so cute to watch him dance when Elmo sang the “happy dance” song, especially as he was starting to run to the door to greet his dad, but then turned on a dime to get back in viewing range when he heard the music to “happy dance.” He has gotten so many words in the last month and, of course, Elmo is one of them. One of the joys of living close to D’s family this time around is enjoying these everyday moments.
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Yeah, I am blessed to be able to be available for unplanned get togethers. Last week, the grands had an unexpected day off from school. D works from home. I offered to come over, but the two were playing together so well, that she only needed to stop to do lunch. They were in jammies and playing Magnatiles and Brio all day. However, when she finished work around 3:30, she wanted to get them outside, but they were in hang out mode. So, she called me up to see if I could meet them at a local playground. I could, and H also finished up work so he could join us. Once the kids heard that Grandad and Grandma would be there, they rushed into clothes and coats and we all had a great time.
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I also love being close enough for unplanned days. My D called us yesterday around 8AM to see what our plans were for the day. Since we didn’t really have anything, she and GS came and spent the day. We made some fresh playdough which was a blast and just hung out and played. It was a blast.
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Ah fresh playdough - I remember when DS16 was maybe 6yo and he wanted to make it, and it involved going and getting cream of tartar which I didn’t have around. I told him ahead of time it would be a huge potchke and I might say bad words. But then it was fine. 
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That makes my heart happy to have the grandkids excited for the grandparents. Ours are, but we don’t live close (2 airplane flights away).
I am ‘strategizing’ so can get DH to anticipate a move near DD1/SIL/Gkids once they purchase a home in their area (which may be a year or two down the road). I will discuss with them if they would be happy for us to move nearby once they put permanent roots down. Based on last visit, will get a resounding ‘absolutely yes’. Soon to have 5 children (in May will be 7 and under, with newborn March 2025).
I have to ‘pave the way’ a bit to line up DH’s hobbies to be able to be done in new area to work for him to be ‘on board’.
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IDK what kind of flu is making its way around, but two classrooms at our local elementary school had a lot of students absent last week due to the flu.
IDK how many were immunized for the flu (or if that is not a good idea for kids, IDK). DH and I both have the 65+ flu vaccination and we are good so far.
Flu vaccinations are a good idea for kids. Little kids can get pretty sick pretty fast with the flu. All 3 grandkids have gotten flu vaccinations from their pediatrician.
Besides flu, D says that there have been tons of norovirus case in the metro DC area. Especially at assisted living /nursing homes. Many more than she typically sees.
D and SIL are taking all the kids to the “Grand Princess Show and Character Experience” on Sunday. D took the twins to Target today (no school. Inservice day) and bought them princess costumes to wear on Sunday. They picked out Anna and Elsa from Frozen. (Because Anna & Elsa are sisters just like they are.) SIL asked if D found a Kristof costume for GS so the 3 kids could all be dressed up from the same story. No luck on that account, besides GS has already decided he wants to dress up as Moana for the Princess Show. GS was wearing his sister’s Moana costume’s skirt and halter top with his Moana necklace at dinner tonight. GS was thrilled–his dad not so much. 
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GD1 went to see Disney on Ice over the weekend. She was dressed as the princess in Frozen. They asked her and one other kid to go on the stage. She danced (or moved) on stage. When I FaceTime her later. She told me that she was kind of nervous, but she had the best time.
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