Helping Hands

This week, my son and I took on the role of nursemaid and troublemaker, respectively. We travelled to our previous stomping ground, Georgetown,TX to help our dear Grammy (his Grammy, my mother-in-law). She was at home recovering from a recent operation that left her less mobile than she would prefer and in need of assistance and entertainment - enter Leslie and Luke. I did my very best to assist while he did his utmost to entertain. We were there for 5 days and in between all of our do-gooding we found time for friends and fun. Here are some of the highlights of our week:

My good friend, Jacob, came over to help fix Sylvia's flat tire. Luke was mesmerized by the process and had to get in on the action. Later, he had the dirty hands of a working man doing a hard days work.

Grammy received lots of gifts from well-wishers. One such group gave her a bouquet of balloons.Luke found these balloons to be very entertaining. He used them as punching bags and weapons.

Swimming in the backyard on a hot hot summer day. At times, Moses, the little miniature daschund, even joined in the splashing.

Part of my nursemaid duties included grocery shopping. The little dude came with me to H-E-B and was rewarded handsomely for his troubles with a balloon weighted down by a sucker. It was a lime sucker and it was Luke's first sucker encounter. Let me just say that the first foray in to lollipop-licking was very successful.

One of our favorite things was going to visit our friends Ashley, Chad and Cooper. Ashley and Chad are college friends and their boy is 2 and a half months younger than Luke. We set up a play date for our children to meet and for the grown-ups to catch up on life. This was my first play date and I loved watching Luke interact with another child. He did great and I think he earned a new fan in Cooper.

And now for an example of the entertainment I mentioned earlier. Luke has moved from simple climbing to daredevil stunt climbing. He is up, over, around and in between everything he can find. This shopping basket move is one of many tricks we were priviledged to over the week. As a mom, it was terrifying to see that little person be so reckless. But it was also a little bit awesome to know that my son is fearless. If they had "extreme play" he would be a definite contender.

And I learned how to play a new game, Catan. I just learned that it is the "German Game of the Year". That is pretty cool. However, playing the game is not so cool. At least, that is what I used to think. As far as I was concerned, the game fell in the ranks of RISK and MONOPOLY - games that only nerds without dates would play. But, to all of you Catan fans (and also to nerds everywhere) I want to say I am sorry. It is actually a fun game that challenges the mind. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of me and my friends playing the game though - that was more proof of my un-coolness than I wanted floating around in the universe.

It was a really nice getaway that turned in to more fun than I had hoped for. I was happy to see everyone that I saw and hung out with. I am psyched to have learned a new game and I am anxious to master it and play with someone who is worse at it than I am.