Talk About Grandparents

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday. For more information or to see what others are talking about, visit Lara at The Lazy Organizer.



They say it is the job of a grandparent to spoil a child and then hand the child back to it's parents. Our boys are lucky that they have a grandpa and grandma that live close by. In fact Brad's mother often comes to visit, play with Ryan and sometimes babysit for us and he is always very happy to see her. Brad's father comes by to visit often as well but Ryan still plays shy around him sometimes. My parents however, live in a different province and haven't seen Ryan since he was 3 weeks old. They spoil him rotten with gifts at every chance though. This week I am going to talk about my parents and how as granny and poppy they spoilt all of us rotten over the last 3 weeks. (It's not that Brad's parents don't help us-they do and on a more regular basis since they live so near- but my parents just left, we miss them and we want them to know that we appreciate all they did for us while they were here.)



My parents came out to visit and help out when Adam was born. They left Ontario the day after Adam was born and arrived at our house the day after we were discharged from the hospital. Brad and I both thought Ryan would play strange with my parents but he took to both of them almost right away. Now that they have gone, I am sure Ryan misses them, especially granny who often played with him. While they were here, my mom cleaned my house daily, did my laundry, helped me cook, played with Ryan and when I was feeling up to it, took me out to do things. My dad helped Brad change the engine in his mother's car, helped us get cartoons for Ryan, helped Brad with a few household projects and built Ryan a rocking horse. They even bought us a new bbq as an early anniversary gift. We were thinking of getting a new one but the one we had was working fine, although a little on the small side when trying to cook for any more than 3 or 4 people. So we passed our old bbq on to Brad's mom. They sent flowers to me in the hospital and brought presents for both boys when they came. They stopped at Costco along the way and brought food with them. They bought items to leave for birthdays and Christmas later this year.





The rocking horse was something I wanted my dad to make for Ryan. And it worked out well that they were able to get most of it made before they came and then assembled it here. It is nigh and Ryan needs help to get up on it now but he loves it and will grow into it and it will last a long time. I know already that it is one of those items that Brad and I will keep long after the boys outgrow it and hope to pass it on to another generation at some point. It works a a gift to Ryan since everyone is bringing gifts for Adam.




For Ryan's birthday they bought him a potty (which although the potty is in the box in the living room we are saving it until his birthday), a race car set (which Poppy wanted to see up and running before they left and is now a favorite toy) and a bike. We all agreed that we thought Ryan was too small for a bike this year but my parents wanted to look at one they could possibly buy and leave as a Christmas or Easter gift. The bike is so great. It has a belt to help hold him onto the seat. It has a handle so I can push him when he gets tired of peddling. You can lock the handlebars so that if you are pushing he can't steer all over the world. He doesn't reach the peddles yet (what a shock eh?!) and although it wasn't meant to be a gift for now or even his upcoming birthday, we have taken him out on it a few times and he loves it. Granny even bought him a cute little bell for it and he has figured out how to make that work.



All of us are missing granny and poppy. I know sometimes I got frustrated because I couldn't do things and things were not getting done the way I would have liked or in the order I would have preferred or because I was not completely in control, but it really was nice to not have to worry about certain things at all. Already I miss having someone to take my laundry downstairs and bring it back up folded already. And someone who did my dishes every night and cleaned my floors pretty much every other day if not every day.




And then there is Ryan and his boundless energy. I know I will miss having others around to play with him while I rest, recover and bond with Adam. But we are beginning to settle back into our little family routines though and before I know it, my activity restrictions will be off and things will be back to "normal". At least Ryan loves his little brother and wants to help with him all the time. I am sure things would be more of a challenge if Ryan was not adjusting so well and was overly jealous of Adam and the time I spend with him. But I think part of the reason Ryan adjusted so well to Adam was because of the time and love that granny, poppy and grandma were able to shower him with during this time of transition. For that, Brad and I are so very grateful to all of them.




On a side note, Ryan got a hair cut today. I'd been wanting to do it for a while now but things kept getting in the way. I miss his curls but it is still pretty wavy in places and I know the curls will be back. We think he looks much more grown up with this new hair cut.