Granddaughter Immersion Therapy

Whatever lingering loneliness was severely eradicated through the good offices and combined efforts of the BRS and her younger sidekick, BR3, this past weekend. After Safelight finally released my car from windshield bondage, I set out for the New Hampshire home of my son and the ABFA late Friday afternoon, actually right about the time I should have been sitting down for an appropriate recognition of the First Friday of the Week. I thought I was going to run into holiday weekend traffic at that hour but I made pretty good time since my itinerary did not include any time in Connecticut.

Best Medicine

I’d had a busy week with home renovations, hometown thunder runs, movies, and a windshield repair, not to mention getting my 4^th Covid shot. I was therefore more than ready to offer myself up for granddaughter immersion therapy. The BRS and BR3 both remembered me which wasn’t a given due to my long absence. Upon arrival I was shortly appointed as BR3’s personal conveyance platform as she imperiously pointed out where I should carry her to. The day care center said she was ill, requiring a Covid test but you couldn’t prove that by her behavior. I was talking with my daughter on the phone, mentioned the sickness, and as I panned over to BR3 she was enthusiastically bouncing up and down on a nearby couch.

Son Catching the Highly Mobile "Sick" BR3

BRS & Riggins

BRS is Also Highly Mobile

BR3 

First Friday was appropriately celebrated by my son and I after the ladies went to bed for the night. We had a great time catching up and watching some appropriately ghoulish television. Saturday, the fun continued as BR3 decided she was going to personally supervise me as I prepared breakfast. I would put her down when I needed to but as soon as I turned around, she was standing at my feet demanding to be picked up. She reminded me so much of her aunt, my daughter, at the same age. I eventually completed breakfast and wolfed it down while BR3 was distracted. The ABFA wasn’t as fortunate and had to pointedly share hers with her youngest.

BR3 Also Helped her Dad with Breakfast

Gymnastic Time for BRS with ABFA

Leotard Last Seen on the FBR

My View While Trying to Make Breakfast

trying to Log On

Sisters

Yoga Time

After gymnastics (for the BRS) and a quick doctor’s appointment (for BR3) we were cleared to travel to the ABFA’s parents’ home to celebrate Easter. The ABFA left earlier in order to take in the last college lacrosse game of a cousin. I really enjoyed driving across state with my son and the doctor cleared BR3. Since she had polished off a long nap, she stayed awake for the entire trip. As we neared the destination she and I engaged in a name calling game that had both my son and I laughing hysterically. I would say her name and she would respond with her version of “Grandpa”. I would change the tone and inflection each time and she would follow suit. Too funny but you had to be there to fully appreciate it.

ABFA and the Girls

BR3 Behind the Wheel

Helping ABFA's Dad Rake the Back Yard

Break Time

BRS was Very Dedicated 

We reunited with the ABFA, her parents, and the BRS at the ABFA’s childhood home. The ABFA’s parents are some of the very nicest people on planet earth and bent over backwards to be the perfect hosts over the weekend, to include preparing amazing hamburgers for certain segment of their guest population. The granddaughters were in high excitement mode concerning the predicted early morning arrival of a candy bearing rabbit. We received reports from Panama where my Favorite Panamanian and her family had to evacuate the condo earlier in the day when the power went out again. They were back in David roundly complaining about the humidity of the fully emergent rainy season. My wife even admitted she would come back with me on the earlier date in future years. Yes, you read that right, my wife actually admitted I got something right. I’ll have to remember this date.

Easter Baskets

Stuffed Animals

BR3, Fashion Explosion

The Cousins

My granddaughters apparently mistook my sleeping form on Easter morning as the aforementioned bunny. It is certifiably the very best way to awaken on any day though. They were strategically distracted from their awakening efforts by diving into their heavily laden Easter baskets. The egg hunt was delayed until the afternoon when younger cousins would arrive. The delay was fortuitous since it was sleeting and snowing outside (don’t tell my wife). The ABFA’s family started trickling in over the morning until we had a full house to celebrate the holiday. A very tasty ham was donated to the effort and my Favorite Son snuck outside to play the role of the rabbit hiding eggs. We tried to distract the kids but after he finished in the front yard and we moved them into the front so they wouldn’t see him in the backyard they almost immediately started pointing out the front yard eggs and plotting their routes.

The Egg Hunt

Son's Family

The egg hunt was so much fun. BR3 couldn’t keep up with her more mobile sister and cousins but the older kids rushed around so quickly that they over ran many eggs which BR3 quickly and expertly honed in on and snatched. BR3 must have inherited my fashion sense (not a welcome development). She wanted to wear a black shoe on one foot and a white one on the other. Her ebony and ivory fashion statement originated earlier in the week at day care. I had been charged with getting her shoes on and I honestly tried to put the same color shoe on both feet but BR3 was having none of it. My role in her style choices was roundly suspected by the other adults as I professed my innocence, to no avail.

FBR Ready for the Hunt

The FBR was also a-hunting down in her New Jersey back yard. It was also very cold there so the hunt was abbreviated because her mother, my daughter, is of the same thin blood as my Favorite Panamanian. The FBR was very imperious about her newest collection of candy and opined that there wouldn’t be any left by the time her grandparents made an appearance. Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, Great Aunt added to her legerdemain in the culinary arts. She is justifiably famous for forgetting to remove the turkey innards prior to baking (on two occasions no less). Yesterday Namesake Nephew reported she forgot to remove the cellophane covering from a container of sour cream before adding it to a dip. The nephew sent me a very unflattering picture of his mother via messenger and I accidently posted it to my Facebook site. I was soon dealing with a very unhappy elder sister who informed me of my failure and insisted I remove the photo. The only problem being, not only did I not know how I posted it in the first place, I couldn’t find it to delete it. I eventually did but my photo credentials for elder sisters may have been permanently revoked. Soxfather’s sister is grinning evilly somewhere.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                        

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course