If I can handle wealthy clients, I can certainly handle grandchildren

We agreed to watch our two grandchildren while their parents went out to dinner to celebrate a birthday. We would have sweet little Catherine for a few hours and her infant brother Jack. Having raised five children from start to finish, well mostly from start, I thought we could handle this. We’d had each of them before, and we are experienced.

Sydney got Jack to go to sleep and she laid him down in the playpen in our downstairs bedroom while Catherine was playing with toys in the family room. I was working on some other projects coming and going through the downstairs area. It went well for twenty minutes, and I thought we’d have a reasonably quiet evening while rendering service to the family. Then I saw Catherine slip out of the downstairs bedroom and I heard Jack stirring. Mischief was afoot.

I went into the bedroom and Jack was not happy, but his lungs hadn’t warmed up, yet. Someone had pulled the pacifier out of his mouth and the evidence was lying on the floor. I put it in his mouth. There was a moment of chewing and sucking, a look of dissatisfaction, and out it came. I picked him up and began to rock him but he was not buying it. I went to my chair in the family room and sat down and tried patting and rocking. Catherine came over to see what was happening and suddenly grabbed the pacifier out of his mouth. I asked her to give it back and she threw it at me! I told her to pick it up and hand it to me and she threw it at me again! I gave her one last chance and fixing her with the steely gaze of the dominant male of the household, I asked her to give it to me and she let me have it – on the fly.

At this point, Sydney could see (and hear) that I was not succeeding with Jack so she came and took him. She had been preparing a bottle for him and began to feed him. As she was settling in with him, Catherine jumped on her back and decided it was time to play with Grandma. I came to her rescue by taking Catherine under my arm, all limbs moving at the same time (hers not mine), and we went upstairs to seek adventure.

One of the things I look forward to at Christmas is getting a toy, and Sydney indulges me. Some of my family think this is an adolescent affectation, but I know young children and there is no better therapy than playing with a toy. Actually, one of the toys is a rubber dart gun and it can provide protection from small grandchildren as well as entertainment, that is, entertainment for them.

We went to the bedroom and got flashlights and turned out the lights and lay on the floor while we shined them on the ceiling. My flashlight spot chased her flashlight spot and visa versa all about the ceiling. We played a game of tag with the lights for quite a while. Then we got the dartgun and shot the rubber foam darts at the ceiling while we lay on the landing. The ceiling is fairly high and we were trying to see if after hitting the ceiling they came back down and landed on us.

By this time, the baby was back asleep and Catherine was at a point where it was time to put her down. We got her in her sleeping clothes and put her in bed, but I kept watch for a little while outside her bedroom to make sure she didn't make a break for freedom. However, she stayed in bed where she slept like a little innocent.

Michael and Lori retrieved them late in the evening and asked if there were any problems. "None whatsoever," we replied. If I can handle wealthy egocentric clients, I can handle small children.