Monday's With Easton # 6

It has been awhile since I have written about my Monday's with my grandson Easton. It's hard to write about him when he isn't feeling well and all he wants to do is cuddle, which is so okay with me! Back in the fall he began having chronic ear infections and I just couldn't do anything to help him but I did try because I have been down this road before with my own children. In January he had tubes put in his little ears to help with those mean old nasty ear infections and is back to his normal self for the most part.

During this time we watched the Ice Age series of movies, Walt Disney's Frozen and more recently Shrek the Third. We spent many of our days cuddling up and watching movies. I also spent a few Monday's rocking him for his entire nap because his ears hurt and his little head was too congested for him to sleep. Trust me those were my favorite days! 

My daughter in law, Cassie had a conference here in Columbia where we live for two days just before Christmas so she and Easton came and stayed with us. We had so much fun! Movies, bubbles, playing outside and being completely silly! We fixed his favorite dinners and he got to spend time with Jaja too. Easton finally got to play in the big chair too!

The photo to the left is from my personal collection of photographs. We bought this huge chair at a silent auction a few months before Easton was born. My husband, Tommy has been dying to use this chair at our Parrot Head functions but I wouldn't let him until Easton could sit in first. It has two basketball goals attached at the top and it came with the basketballs too. My thought was that when Easton came to visit us, he and Tommy would have something special to look forward too. Easton loved it! 

Easton loves to play with my phone. He loves to look through the pictures on my phone. He lights up, grinning from ear to ear and giggling when he watches himself on video. I also have a couple of games for him to play as well. However, he has learned how to use the video phone through Facebook Messenger, so if by change you get a message that I tried calling you through Facebook, it was probably Easton playing with my phone. He is so smart!

Yesterday morning bright and early we took a picture of the two of us for Genealogy Selfie Day. Neither of us are very good at taking selfies but we did it! We also watched movies while he played in his "new" BMW battery operated car that his other maternal grandparents gave him as an early birthday present. We also played with his ball pit or should I say his idea was to throw out most of the balls so he could lay down amongst them, then I would pickup the other side and so that he was covered up with them. Afterwards he thrust himself into my arms and said "Again, Dede!". We also played outside as it was a wonderful 70 degrees!

And here is one of our Genealogy Selfie pictures! [personal collection]

Monday's with Easton # 4 and # 5

I didn't get a chance to post my regular "Monday's with Easton" last week because I ended up being there the whole week because he was sick and then Mama and Dada came down with it too. They are all feeling much better! I share Monday's with his other grandmother whom he calls Memaw and she was sick this week too, so I got an extra Monday I wasn't expecting. I do hope Memaw is feeling better soon.

19 October 2015 # 4
 
Last week, all Easton wanted was to be held which I had absolutely no problem with. We watched his favorite movies of the moment which are Frozen, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Ice Age: Continental Drift. It is amazing to see what he focuses on when he was watching these movies. He loves the song, "Walk the Dinosaur" from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur which is performed by the cast in the movie. In Frozen, he will get up and dance to all of the songs. He just loves music and especially dancing.

He also loves his books. We read many books last week and he surprised me when I asked him if knew what a rooster said because he immediately said, "cock-a-doodle-do". Hearing Easton say that gave me the idea of calling him Doodlebug! He just smiles and laughs when I call him Doodlebug. 

26 October # 5

Yesterday with my Doodlebug we started by playing outside even though it was cold with the wind blowing. He wanted to wear his raincoat, it was dark and cloudy with rain expected later in the day. I let him wear it because I think he looks adorable but remember I am biased when it comes to Easton. I always bring something with me to give him like bubbles, magnets for the fridge or whatever I find I think he will like. 

We did bubbles yesterday morning and the wind sure did help! My husband and I found thess particular bubble tubes at a Walmart back in June when we were in Greensboro for my niece's high school graduation. They had been marked down to fifty cents a tube. Then while in North Myrtle Beach over Labor Day with my parents we found a set of 8 for $2.50, needless to say we bought a pack. These tubes are 12 inches in length and the wand measures the same length and it is roughly 1 inch wide. It can make one really large bubble but with the wind yesterday and moving the wand back and forth it made about 25 bubbles each time.

After being outside so early blowing bubbles and chasing them we had a morning snack while we watched Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs for the umpteenth time but that's okay. At the end when Queen Latifah and the cast sings "Walk the Dinosaur" my sweet little Doodlebug got up to dance and trying to follow the characters as they danced. I was able to record a small video and he caught me. I posted it to my Facebook page.

After the movie we had lunch and then we were back outside for more fun with the bubble wand. Afterwards we had story time and then it was nap time. I usually take a nap too! We had a snack, then we went back outside for a while but he knew it was getting close to when his Mama would be home and he wanted his Mama. So we went out to the garage with him holding my car keys and played with his toy car until Mama came home!

Guess what movies he will be getting for Christmas? The whole collection of Ice Age movies. I just learned there is a new Ice Age movie coming out in 2016, Ice Age: Collision Course. I am looking forward to carrying on this tradition with Easton. I started taking my own children at age 2 to movies and we always had such a fun time. Our first movie was E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.

I love this little boy to the moon and back! 

Sources:

Ice Age Collection (2002-2016), The Movie Database.org (https://www.themoviedb.org/collection/8354-ice-age-collection?language=en : 27 October 2015)

E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982), The Movie Database.org (https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/601-e-t-the-extra-terrestrial?language=en : 27 October 2015)

"Walk the Dinosuar" sung by Queen Latifah, written by Donald E. Fagenson, Randall Keith Jacobs & David Jay Weiss, Lyrics Freak (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/w/was+not+was/walk+the+dinosaur_20343256.html : 27 October 2015).

 

Monday's with Easton ~ # 3 ~ Easton's Agenda

 Knowing that I would have Easton yesterday (9/28/2015) and that we would be stuck indoors because of the rain. I decided it would be a great day for arts and crafts. My best friend gave me the idea to make a fall fingerprint tree. She even sent the link on Pintrest of the image she got the idea from. 

Because I live about an hour away, I always go up on Sunday evenings in time to watch him have dinner (which is always fun - he decided to drink his salsa instead of dipping his taco in it) and help with his bath. When I walked in on Sunday, I heard him say, "Dede!". This was the first time that he had called me Dede as I walked into the house. 

The idea was to use a permanent marker to sketch out the tree. I decided to expand it just a little into a genealogy themed tree. My thoughts were to make the tree trunk and limbs with my finger prints and Easton's finger prints could be the leaves. I was then going to take it home and fill in the names of Easton's direct lineage. I was then going to frame it and use it as a gift from Easton to his Mama & Daddy. Well, Easton decided he wanted nothing to do with paint or stamping ink (for the finger prints). No, he had other ideas about what we were going to do. 

Easton wanted to play "Gotcha". It is game we play where I chase him and when I get to him I pick him up and say "Gotcha" and smother him with kisses and tickle him. I can say that I picked up an unusual amount of steps yesterday but that's okay it is well worth it! He has discovered my CPAP machine and loves to feel the air blowing on him. This can entertain him for quite some time.

Then he wanted to dance after lunch! He loves music and we were dancing to music by Dixie Chicks, and Joss Stone. He's got good taste! When we were done dancing we took a nap. Easton woke up after just an hour. I went to his room and told he would need to sleep a little while longer. He likes to fall asleep holding you hand. So like any grandmother would do, I grabbed a pillow and laid down by his crib and fell asleep while we holding hands. Best nap I have ever had!

The lesson I learned to day, don't make plans because your grandchild may have other ideas on how he wants to spend his day. Just make sure you bring your fun bag with several options not just one!

Monday's with Easton # 2 ~ Baking Cookies

Yesterday was my Monday with Easton and I decided we would bake cookies. He's not old enough nor does he have the patience for homemade cookies. So we did the next best thing, Nestle's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies from the dairy case. I had hoped he would be able to take them to school today and share with his friends but due to food allergies that is not allowed.

Easton pulled his stool over to the counter where we would be working. I adjusted it so that he was close enough to help but would not accidentally touch the oven door when I opened/closed the oven door. He was a big help in helping me lay the squares of dough on the cookie sheet, that is until he decided that picking out the chocolate chips was more fun! Needless to say I couldn't let him do that because of the raw cookie dough but we came to a compromise. He would watch them bake in the oven.

After the cookies came out of the over we had to wait for them to cool so we decided to play a game or rather Easton did. His favorite game, "Gotcha!" The goal of this game is for me to chase him around the house, catch and tickle him and say "Gotcha!" He such a silly little boy! Then he had cookies for his morning snack with his banana milk. He has always been very good about eating but for some reason yesterday he decided that all he wanted was the jelly of his PB &J so he sucked out the jelly from his sandwich(see bottom right picture). After naptime (both of us) we played more "Gotcha!"

For weeks now I have been looking for a pair of maraccas for him. He loves music and he dances around. Then my husband pointed out that I had tambourine in our Parrot Head stuff that I used at a Jimmy Buffett concert a few years back. I gave it to him yesterday morning and he thought it was the best thing ever. Especially after he realized that yes it lights up but that he could change the tempo of the lights from flashing slowly to flashing faster and finally to the light becoming solid and unmoving.

Do you know what the best part of my Monday with Easton was this week? He finally called me Dede all day! That melted my heart! He calls my husband Jaja and he has been calling us both Jaja. 

Until next time little man!

 

Monday's with Easton

 Photo Courtesy of The Kids (David and Cassie), E's first day of school.

This school year my son David and his wife Cassie asked if I wanted to alternate Mondays with my daughter in law's Mother in keeping our grandson Easton. Of course my answer was YES! I may only have him a couple times of month or just once a month depending on the current year school calendar and my son's days off for that particular month. 

I want this to be something that my sweet little fella will one day read and tells his own children about me. Ultimately, at the end of every school year I will put these posts into a book and will present them to him when he is older.

Once I made my commitment to keeping Easton, I decided that I needed a "fun bag". I call it Dede's fun bag. I have filled it with books, flashcards, finger paint, googly eyes, pompom balls, pipe cleaners, small brown paper bags, crayons, foam paint brushes, cup cake papers, cookie cutters in small and big shapes, scrapbook paper, card stock, photographs, and coloring books. I still need to add a few more things but you get the idea. The whole idea for me is that when he sees the bag he will know that I have brought "the fun bag" and we are going to do something special. 

My goal over the next few weeks is to build him a small book with family members so that he can start to learn everyone everyone's name. Our family is much larger and louder than Easton knows. I am printing current photos of everyone, cutting them into shapes and using different color card stock to make cards for aunts, uncles, grandparent's and cousins. Kind of like trading cards. By doing this I hope to help Easton learn who everyone is but to also teach him his colors and shapes, which he is working on in nursery school.

The school Easton attends sends the kids a report every day of what the theme of the week is, how he is doing, what they did that day and photos of Easton with little captions. They forward them to me and Jaja (my hubby) so we can see how his day went but now I can plan my activities with him to go with what he learning. 

Monday's with Easton, is a new column that is about my days with my grandson and I will be posting it on Tuesday's at least twice a month.