Making A Plan

This is the second in a series of Grandma In Charge Posts. For ten days I will be taking care of a 7 and 5 year old in their home while mom and dad take a break. It’s been a long COVID year. I have missed them so much and am excited to have this opportunity to get reacquainted again. They live states away so the pandemic made anything other that FaceTime visits impossible. But here I am now, for 10 days. I made it through the first three days pretty well but they were both in school. So my job was just to get them up, ready, and dropped off on time. Then picked up, fed, played with, and to bed on time. Now, what will happen with the next stretch of days? Schools out for summer!

I’m Going To Need A Plan!

This is the first full day with the kids home with me and by 9:00 I knew we needed to hash out a plan. So first we listed everything that they wanted to do while Grandma’s here. It included 5 restaurants! Two because the oldest came home with gift certificates for a free meal because he “Rocked It Through The Year Of Covid”. We have to visit these two places by the end of this weekend. The other three are because they know that Grandma would rather not cook.

List of Activities – Grandma Style

Rearrange the playroom while we play and decide which toys can be donated.
Make a structure out of several cardboard boxes (saved by mama because she thought it looked like a good Grandma activity). I think it’s going to be a clubhouse…or a secret place to hide and eat snacks!
The youngest wants to try to write her own comicbook but she can’t write words and thinks she’ll need help with drawing the characters. She does know that the 1st one is going to be named “Toot”! This ought to be good!
We also need to hang a bulletin board in her bedroom because she came home from Pre-School with one of those “Person of the Week” posters and she really wants to hang it up along with her graduation achievement award for “Best Class Participation”. Two things to admire while she tries to fall asleep each night.
We bought some water balloons because even though Grandma is not a fan of the pool, I don’t mind getting wet on a hot day and this state sure has plenty of hot days!
Last, and I hope I can get this to happen, I want the oldest to teach me how he draws birds. He decorated my bedroom door with his drawings and they are incredible. I have to find out if he really did draw them “from memory” like he claims or if he has a secret tracing mechanism. At any rate, my door is very special.

Ok, We’ve Got A Plan

So now, our plan is in place. We’ve already accomplished two or three big items plus they did their chores (folding and putting away their clothes and putting away their dishes from the dishwasher).

It’s now 12:30 and quiet time…we’ll see how long that lasts.

I just have to say, even though it’s been awhile since I’ve been with them, some things never change. They’ve gotten bigger, yes and their interests have changed but…They still want me to play with them. They love to create new things with my help. AND they still let me give them hugs and I’ve even gotten one or two back in return.