Typical for Today

 Last night Brody's parents went out to dinner. When they got back to collect their boy, his mom asked me a question that sort of made me think a bit. And that was, "So Con, what's a typical morning with Brody like?" 

Without thinking about it, my immediate thought was ...none of my days over the last year have been 'typical'. 

 The first year of a child's life is so full of changes, it seems that whenever you turn around, it's a new stage of development.  This changes routines or at least shifts them a bit.  Since I didn't want Brody's mother to think I am totally schedule-less or without some sort of predictability (she's knows I'm not) I came up with a little outline of the morning, but here's a more detailed one that I  also want to share with my readers. Mind you... this is typical of today....

Here goes.  Thirteen-month old Brody gets here at 7:30 AM three mornings a week, or at least that is Mommy's goal.  As soon as I see my grandson's face I am happy he's here, no matter how tired I am.  I can say this for grandpa too, who lights up like a twinkling Christmas tree.

The first thing Brody wants to do is go down the hall and point to the the pictures of the people hanging way up high on the wall. Everyone, including his mom, is "DA-DA."  After picking him up to examine the faces of my children when they were in grammar school and Grandpa when he was six months old (a very strong resemblance to Brody) he goes back down the hall to look for our dog, Cody.

Brody can say the word dog perfectly. He says doog (as in cool). He gets excited to see the doog and runs  to him to pet him or tease him. He likes to take the dog's toy bone and run with it.  Grandpa and him then get into a lively teasing the dog game. They all have fun for about ten minutes. Then it's outside time with grandpa.

The three of them are out the door and right over to the orange tree to pick a green ball.  Brody loves this.  They find a good one without any bird poop on it and Brody helps to pluck it off. Today it was nice enough, cool and refreshing, in fact just plain wonderful, that I had to get out there and play a little ball in the grass with Brody. Grandpa washed down the bricks and areas where the doog pees, then went inside to finish making the breakfast I had started making for the boy.

 Next stop is the high chair, the same one we used to granny nanny Kenzie. Brody ate some Trader Joe organic ABC pasta, green, yellow and orange, and a few bites of some sweet Cantelope from Sprouts. Grandpa tossed him a couple bites of toast. He enjoyed his breakfast, as Grandpa played the Claw game (I'm going get you) ... between every bite... making him laugh when the monster grabbed his foot. Grandpa loves when Brody laughs. The child has a magnificient smile... his whole face smiles... especially them big brown beautiful eyes..  

Out of the kitchen and into the playroom. Brody cruises his toys while I cruise my e-mail. This doesn't last long though, because he wants to be on the computer, too. He wants to watch Cebu, from Veggie Tales. I had it on my blog in March and he's addicted to it.  OK we'll watch it one time!  After dancing to Cebu, it's walk time, my favorite time.

 Out the door we go into the beautiful blue sky of October. Brody loves this, too. We walk for about thiry minutes. He doesn't make a peep. He watches the scenery go by.. listens to the birds and feels a little breeze on his cheeks. I have him guarded from too much sun with a blue baby blanket. Brody falls asleep on the way home. I lower the stroller into the recliner position, put my phone on mute and walk slowly... listening to my footsteps and the wheels crunching the pavement.

When we get inside the house, the doog sometimes barks or grandpa's phone rings or a truck roars by and Brody wakes up.  Today he did not wake up. He is getting some good Z's still in the stroller, which is exactly why Grandma is writing this long post about our 'typical day'.

When sweet boy wakes up we'll hang around the playroom, then my room, reading books and exploring, until I'm ready to go to the store.  Brody goes along with me and is always a great companion. He probably gets tired of my kisses as he sits in the grocery cart, but I keep us moving along, so he doesn't get antsy. Oh, he's up! Time to sign off.

If your'e a granny nanny or a grandpa nanny or just babysit occassionally, I'd love to hear a slice of your day. Send a comment.