Wrinkled Thoughts

Yes, this is another post with my 98 year-old grandfather as the star. 

On Easter Sunday, we all went over to my Uncle Gary's for dinner and an egg hunt for the kids. It was a wonderful dinner (as it always is with my Aunt Linda) and fun for all. I learned that my cousin Chris is an even bigger "Gamer" than me on the XBox 360.. although he doesn't have a Wii yet.

During dinner, grandpa was having a hot dog (and freezing like he always is outside) when he looked across the table and saw my cousin John's daughter, Sawyer settling in with her hot dog and orange jello salad. Being grandpa, he immediately snatched Sawyer's hot dog and pretended to take a bite.  Upon seeing her dog returned to her plate (a little to close to her jello), Sawyer proceeded to give grandpa the third degree and then refused to eat the hot dog because it had been violated. Grandpa later told me he doesn't think that little girl likes him much.

However! At lunch with grandpa the other day, I was forced to take the two foster kids we have in our home because Sage was having her hair done. This was a HUGE endeavor on several fronts. 1) The two kids we have for the time being are GIANTS! The little boy ("Bubba") is not even 9 months old and weighs 23 lbs. He looks like a miniature sumo wrestler with his diaper on. His head is bigger than the twins who are 5 years old. We've been told his 21 month old sister was exactly the same way when she was his age. She hasn't exactly shrunk… I've nicknamed her "Big D". The "D" is the first letter of her first name. 2) Big D absolutely HATES me. I've never been dissed the way she has dissed me the last few weeks. It was so bad at one point that Big D would drop to the floor crying if I walked in the room… and I'm not kidding! I found out I'm not the only male she doesn't like. She dissed the doctor too.

So, I knew I was in for an adventure at lunch. I was hoping Big D would at least let me get her out of the car without a melt down. She must have been in a good mood. And then the cutest thing in the world happened. I'm not supposed to post photos of kids in our care on the internet, but since she was looking the other way, and you can't see her face, I decided this would be the exception. While I was pulling "Bubba" out of his car seat, I looked over and saw this (see photo to the right). Big D "walked" grandpa into Paradise Bakery and then sat with him calmly while I went and got our order.

Course, you can't take two kids out in public without SOMETHING goofy happening.

"Bubba" - or "Fat Boy Slim" has a bad habit of grabbing anything he can get his fat little fingers on. As I was putting the tray on the table, Bubba decided to grab grandpa's bowl of soup and dump the whole damn thing all over himself - and me since I was too slow to grab it in time. Needless to say, the soup was a bit "warm" and Bubba didn't like swimming in it. Screams abounded. I quickly rushed him to the bathroom for a shower, and when I came  back, the great staff had already cleaned up the mess. Other than having to sit in wet clothes for an hour, Bubba was no worse for wear. My shoes on the other hand are still painted orange from the tomato soup. 

We had a lovely lunch. Grandpa couldn't get over how "cute" Big D was. I think he was partial to her since she showed some  affection towards him. Big D even sat NEXT TO ME - most of the time…

Half way through lunch Big D was happily inhaling her mac and cheese when she spotted a macaroni she had dropped on the floor under the table. She decided to retrieve said macaroni and eat it before I could grab it. Well, being the good father that I am, I lifted her back up on the bench next to me and said "Yucky". That was it for her. She decided I really was "evil" and decided she was going to finish her lunch sitting next to grandpa (see photo). At least she only cried for a minute… and immediately stopped when I plopped her down on the other side of the table.

Good times! During lunch grandpa came up with another Hollyism that I updated here .