Grandma returns from cuddling and cleaning duty (01/16/06)

It’s always easier to clean someone else’s house than my own. For the past 10 days I have been staying with my daughter and her family. As they have a new baby, they tend to sleep a lot later than I normally do. Like most babies I have known, baby Emma prefers to stay alert a good bit of the night.

At some point I get tired of waiting for them to wake up so I can spoil my first granddaughter and I start cleaning.

I don’t have a car handy and don’t know the neighborhood well enough to walk anywhere. Television really isn’t appealing to me and I didn’t bring anything with me to keep me busy. Therefore I wash mirrors and do as much non-essential cleaning as I can without making noise. Sometimes this is a real challenge as I have no clue where some of her cleaning products are located. It took me several days just to locate the dustpan.

It took less than a day to discover that the dog’s water bowl wasn’t as empty as it looked when I picked it up and flooded their kitchen. The floor is exceptionally clean now, although it would have been better if I had swept it before I mopped.

I also take their dog outside and run him ragged. He hasn’t quite gotten the concept of, “Bring it back and I’ll throw it to you,” down pat. He seems to think the game is, “You throw it and I’ll run.” This game alternates with, “You throw it and I’ll tear it to shreds.”

Speaking of pets, they also have a giant white cat and a grey tabby kitten. The kitten has been using me as a mattress when it isn’t picking on the other cat. Unfortunately this kitten thinks kitty litter makes a great toy. One of its favorite pastimes is scraping the litter out of the box and making a huge mess. Its other favorite pastime is attacking the white cat and knocking things over.

Just a couple days ago it was drinking out of the fishbowl and suddenly lost its balance. Over went the fish, the cat and the lamp. The fish was mildly traumatized and the kitten thought it was great fun. The lamp sustained minor injuries in the form of a broken bulb but that was quickly replaced. The fish has been relocated to avoid further miniature tsunamis.

The family was asleep this morning so I attended gymnastics with my daughter’s sister. And for you purists this does not make both of them mine.

Anyway, if you have never watched three-year-old children attend gymnastics classes then you don’t know what you’re missing. The instructors did a great job of entertaining the kids. They stretched and danced and tumbled. Not a single child did everything the teacher told them to do. Their feet wandered with their attention spans and they often had to be persuaded to rejoin their groups.

When the teacher told them to walk their hands down their legs like the itsy bitsy spider he was immediately and rather adamantly informed that was the wrong way to do the itsy bitsy spider song. The young man was quick on his feet and he deftly changed the instruction to having the children walk their hands like caterpillars down their legs. That met with approval from the little ones.

They then did a series of hurdles where they were to run and jump. Our little gymnast completed the course several times before the first little girl was through once. Of course, our child skipped a few steps.

They then went to the trampolines which was about halfway across the gym from where we were sitting. I suddenly heard a scream, “Diana! Take my picture!”

It was soon time to return to my temporary home.

The household was just coming to life. We fed the children but the baby decided she wasn’t hungry. The gymnast and her family left to take a nap and shortly thereafter the baby’s other grandmother came to cuddle the baby and I found a computer so I could write this column.

I will be back to my old routine by the time you read this and Emma and her family can sleep as late as they choose. Then I’ll have to get used to not cuddling a baby for several hours a day and cleaning a house where I know where everything is.[[In-content Ad]]