Charlie and Grandma's day of fun

Whilst Bekah is away being all brainy and stuff at her Academic conference in Amsterdam with her beau Mr Bentley, grandma has been left in charge of Charlie.  I have been looking forward to this day for weeks because don’t often get the chance to have my grandson all to myself.  No parents to ask permission from, no Katy to whisk him away on some chasing game or to play a two year old’s version of hide and seek, and no granddad to growl like a bear with.

We started our day at 6am, discovering that he’d soaked through everything in his cot with a very leaky wet nappy, so first thing was to change him into clean pyjamas and strip all the covers off.  After that we got to have cuddles in bed and read stories for a little while.

It turns out that the met. Office was right and it had snowed overnight.  When I told Charlie to look out of the window and he saw all the snow, the first thing he said was “snowman”.   After breakfast, my plan was to take the dogs for a walk; I was looking forward to our trip out to Gawthorpe hall with them even more than I had been.  Now, I’ve been out on trips with young children on my own before, and I’ve been out on trips with dogs on my own before, but I’ve never combined the two until today.  There were leads, harnesses, jackets, treats and poop bags to organise before I even started on coats, boots and hats for Charlie and me, and let me tell you, it’s not so easy walking from the front door to the car with two excited dogs and a slow walking two year old in the snow.

By the time we got there later in the morning, it had started to rain, so all the snow was turning a bit slushier and there were lots of puddles, which Charlie really enjoyed until he realised his socks were getting wet inside his boots.  Lottie, with her short legs and fine coat of hair was not keen on some of the deeper puddles.  Linus, as usual, was running around and digging holes and generally enjoying the fresh air.  Nothing much bothers him, he just loves to play.

Back home and dry and time for lunch, which for Charlie was gluten free seeded bread toasted, with tune and avocado.  He sat in his high chair eating his while I was in the kitchen preparing my own food.  I could just hear him going “yummy yummy yummy” every minute or so, and when I came back to check on him he was finishing off the last little bit.

Afternoons are all about napping, and with Charlie tucked up in his cot, I got to have my nap on the sofa with Linus at my feet and Lottie sitting on my shoulder.  I’d set a timer on my phone to make sure we didn’t stay asleep too long, but I was woken up by my it ringing and Katy asking me to go and pick her up from college because she had a few things to bring home after her A ‘level drama practical exam this morning.  As I was coming back downstairs after getting Charlie, the timer on my phone started to go off so he was shouting “phone ringing, phone ringing”.  He rushed to get it and bring it to me so that I could answer it quickly.  He seemed quite concerned that it had been “ringing” for a while and wanted to make sure I answered it and didn’t miss the call.

I had been telling Charlie where we going while I was putting his coat and shoes on, so in the car on the way there he was calling out "Katy, where are you", but you have to imagine the sing song voice you would use if you were playing hide and seek or peek a boo with a little one, and then take all the consonants out of "where" and "you", so it sounds more like "Katy, ere are ou".  I mean, I guess you had to be there, but it is just the sweetest.

Post nap snack

While we were waiting for dinner to cook I thought it would be nice to watch a dvd instead of the usual toddler t.v. that’s on at that time of day.  I chose Wall-E, but it didn’t really hold Charlie’s attention much as her was far more interested in how long dinner was going to be.

The day ended with cuddles and stories before settling him down to sleep.  Can’t wait to do it all again tomorrow.