Three Days of Bliss - Well Almost

Let me get the "Well Almost" part out of the way first. The day after Easter, Michelle (my daughter-in-law) and I were sick. Other than that and the sick people on the plane ride back from San Diego to Chicago, who didn't have the courtesy to cover their mouths when they sneezed and coughed, my trip was relaxing and fun.

Michelle and my son welcomed me as they always do, treated me well, and provided all sorts of entertainment – mostly in the form of Taylor, Kaden, and Zac.  Taylor, not yet 9, is a future drama queen – oh wait – that's now. She is extremely bright, reads all the time, and likes to entertain people, a natural actor. She is quite amusing and now that she thinks she is entering the pre-teen arena, she acts as old as she believes she is, 21. But she is truly a sweetheart and on the day I was sick, she offered to make me some tea and knew exactly how to do it.

Kaden, 4, is outrageously funny. I told Michelle and Greg that they really should invest in a 24 hour-a-day video camera that follows him around. The first night I was there, he asked, "Please Grandma, will you please sleep with me? Please? I have plenty of room in my bed. Please? I'll move over for you."

So I went upstairs to look at my sleep station, the place I would share with Kaden, a twin sized bed.

OK.

True to my promise, when night came, he turned on his TV and put on one of his DVD's. I waited for him to fall asleep. I  had told him I would probably go to my own room later, so when he fell asleep, I quietly turned off the TV, went to the guest room, fell asleep, and awoke to sobs that dragged me out of my bed:

(sob sob) "Somebody turned off my TV...(repeat numerous times)." In my defense, nobody warned me to leave it on.

I raced through the darkness into his bedroom, because I didn't want him to wake everybody else, and took a flying leap over his body that was curled into a little ball in the doorway of his room. So yes, I had a nice trip.

I can't leave without mentioning a few more people. One, for example, is Zac, my youngest grandson, 17 months old. He thinks that whenever my son is in the room, he must immediately attach himself to his daddy. He has one of the sweetest faces and one of the calmest demeanors of any baby I've ever known, but he throws himself into a tantrum much like the child in this video (it won an award on America's Funniest Home Videos, so you may have seen it) called, "Why waste a temper tantrum if nobody is around to see it????"

And then we have our other little drama queen, Ayla. Ayla is my only great-granddaughter. Ayla is 20 months old, and acts very much like her mother. Both have ATTITUDE with a capital A. Ayla would not allow me to hold her UNTIL I gave her a good-bye hug. Granted, I hardly ever get to see her, but Travis, 16, my oldest grandson, hardly ever gets to see her either. Ayla practically sneered at me every time Travis held her as if to say, "Ha ha, Great Grandma, see how much I love Travis, who I see just as often as I see you."

OK, that last part was my jealousy rearing its ugly head. I wanted Ayla to bond with me. Her mom, Sarah, always did, so I guess I'll just have to be patient.

All in all, I got to see half of my grandchildren and half of my great grandchildren all in the span of a weekend! Pure joy!