Babysitting Miles

In order to be fair I want to offer Miles the same amount of Grandma contact time as I did Lucas. It isn’t quite fair because now I’ve forgotten how busy a one year old can be. Miles wanders everywhere in seconds and has the strength and inquisitiveness to open every drawer and cupboard in sight and then proceeds to go through the items inside and throw them aside. My house is a shambles by the time the visit is over and I’m ready to head for bed.

Now that Lucas is 4 he is a good visitor. When I find a toothbrush in the kitchen I ask, “Now does the toothbrush belong in the kitchen?” and he immediately takes it to where it belongs. He has been trained by day-care professionals to know that there’s a place for everything and everything in its place and he likes order.

When I was in Spain I talked to a grandma there who told me that the grandparents job when they retire is to care for their grandchildren. I am enjoying my random babysitting more as I watch the brains on these boys change and mature. I think it will be a permanent hobby for me as I am bagging the student teaching effort. I liked going to the schools, seeing the students and watching the beginning teachers attempt to maintain discipline. However I couldn’t get excited about the required paperwork for each student. In order to collect more data each semester new forms were added. Forms like the Pedagogical Assessment which is now required for beginning teachers in the State of Washington. It consists of 10 sections of checklists for teacher achievement. I am not enthusiastic about completing these forms and then asking teachers to complete 3-5 forms in addition although most teachers think it is a good trade for having a student teacher take over their classes for a semester.

Christmas can come anytime now. The gifts are wrapped and under the stick tree, packages have been mailed and the baking is coming along too. I think we still need to have some authentic cut-out cookies with sprinkles as I hear Betty has made some for the Taylor-Wells Gathering in Richland.

Here we will have a Christmas Eve party at Ray and Claire’s, an early morning Santa gift breakfast at Lucas’ and finally after a flight to Seattle a Christmas day dinner at Cyd’s.

December 29 there will be a big birthday party for the one year old twins. Peyton now has a tooth and both boys are walking. Everyone is invited to the three o’clock party so come on by if you’re in the vicinity.

Meanwhile family members have been requesting details about your trip.

Whats up with her? Have you heard anything? I keep checking your blog to no avail.... How is xmas coming? Where exactly did Judy go? Jill.

You should be back in Chicago now so let us know.