Visit with Grandma and Grandpa

Oliver's grandparents decided they haven't seen enough of Oliver lately and asked if they could take care of him this weekend. They'd even drive to St. Paul to pick him up to save us the trip!

I'm fortunate to have in-laws I don't hesitate to let care for Oliver. Except you would have wondered with all the last-minute instructions I gave Grandma before she left with Oliver. I handed her a lunchbox loaded with more food than he could eat in two days, even as she reminded me that they do have food at their house. Toys and a booster seat. They had that too. I felt the need still to point out every item in the diaper bag, just in case she wanted to know ahead of time in which pockets specifically I had stashed the wipes, his sleepsack, extra pacifiers, spare sippy cups, his lovey, his sleepsack, the Ibuprofen in case his ears or teeth were bothering him, but if she thought it was the teeth, there was also this gel she could put on his gums, and the antibiotics he needs to take with his lunch and here's how you fill the syringe, you know, just in case you've never seen the ingenious design Target uses.

Chris interjected that they'd manage fine even without all the detail I was providing. Realizing that with the teething, ear infections and early wake-up that morning that Oliver's schedule was probably completely off and last-minute reminders about his usual snack, meal and nap times would not be applicable, I decided that information already provided was going to be sufficient. Besides, Grandma looked like she was anxious to start her day with her grandson. So off they went.

I was free! For a few hours at least.

And what did I do with my time? I ran a load of dishes, vacuumed without worrying about waking the baby and mopped the hardwood floors dirty with the residue of meals Oliver still hasn't mastered keeping on the table. Fun stuff, huh? I was desperate to get a head start on cleaning in preparation for having guests on Christmas Day, even though my house was going to be dirty again by Saturday. But at least it won't be as dirty.

Thankfully I had planned an afternoon of cross-country skiing with friends, or I never would have actually used my free time to do something for myself. With our meet-up time looming, I finally put away the mop and the vacuum and went out to the garage to find the skis I hadn't used since the early months of my pregnancy two winters ago.

And Oliver? Because he spends so much time with me and is clearly attached to his mom, I'm always anxious about how he'll handle separating from me. But when he smiled at Grandma when she entered the house, I started to have confidence that the day would go well for both Oliver and his grandparents. Aside from some crying when he arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house and realized Mom hadn't come with him, he had fun. And Grandma and Grandpa got plenty of enjoyable quality time with him. All the activities that can become monotonous for me because I do it day in and day out, like dealing with mess at meals or reading the same book over and over again, were new and exciting for them.