Getting a diaper changed has never been so much fun!

March 5, 2015 - Thursday
-26 degrees/clear/calm
Pentoga Road

It was 3:30 AM and I thought I was dreaming. A baby crying? Not here. Yes here. Whoops, I wasn't dreaming. It was Baby Grady.

Sargie was beginning to stir, but since nature was calling, I hopped out of bed, walked into the spare bedroom, and found Grady not really crying, more like animated cooing and trying to talk. The boy was dreaming. I rubbed his back and he was soon sleeping.

I was up and there was no going back to sleep. In fact, it's still early and I've already been up for what seems like half a day. Grady awakened again at 6:30. I heard him and climbed the stairs. He was fully awake this time and I was greeted with a huge smile. 

There are some things that are sacred in a grandpa/grandson relationship. Sharing a bowl of ice cream is one of them.

Hmm, I wondered how the mini-man would like to snuggle with Grandma. I lay him in bed beside Sargie, they both snuggled close, and that's the last I've heard from either. Grady fell back to sleep, Sargie's slumbering, and I've been up for hours. Oh well, I have the rest of my life to catch up on any missed sleep.

We drove to Marquette Wednesday to pick up Grady. The day was sunny, the roads were good, and after a quick visit with Macrea, we were headed back home.

Macrea fastening Grady into his car seat. He gave Grady Mr. Panda as a present.

Early childhood development is remarkable. I should know, I worked around little munchkins much of my working life, but I guess I'd forgotten. It wasn't long ago that Grady would lie on his belly, all fours in the air, crying in frustration that he was unable to navigate across the floor. A few days ago when he and Macrea were here, he could sort of crawl. It was more like a squirm in slow motion. He made it from Point A to Point B in an uncoordinated fashion. That's all changed in the past thirty six hours.



Grady is now a veritable speedster when whizzing around the living room. He managed to crawl over to and across the open shelf of the end table by my chair. At one point last night, he headed to the wood stove and was in the process of crawling over Brutus before Sargie stopped him. 

Hmm, what's this?

Boom. Crawled a bit too far. He got up smiling, went back, and did all over again. Isn't life fun being a baby explorer?

Grady also pulls himself up and on very wobbly legs, stands and looks around. There's little doubt that he'll be walking in the next few weeks. The boy has suddenly turned into a super-munchkin athlete. He must get that from my side of the family, osmosis and all.



Grandma and I have found we're not quite as young as we used to be. It takes both our energies to keep up with the baby's unlimited supply, but what fun.

Most of last night was spend playing and laughing. His smiles and good humor are infectious and he occasionally has Grandpa Pennington spouting baby talk. Grandma is totally in love with him and it's a beautiful thing, a complete love fest when baby and Grandma are together. 



Speaking of love fests, Brutus and Grady have some of their own man love happening. Grady decided Brutus should share the bone he was chewing on last night. Brutus tolerated it just a bit, then gently reclaimed his bone, got onto his feet, and moved to another part of the room. Later, Grady was climbing up on the pup. Brutus simply lifted his head, looked at the baby, sighed, and lay his head back down as if saying, "What's the use?"

One for me. One for you. One for me. One for you. 

I'm not sure what today will bring. I hoped that Grady and I might take a stroll into the hinderlands, but it's mighty cold. We'll confine our guy-time to the inside. No doubt, Grandma will have some ideas of what we'll do as she's still on vacation. No matter what they are, we'll all have fun because Baby Grady's in the house.

It's time to get dressed, have a cup of coffee, and prepare for the onslaught of the little-person. After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...