Leave it to a child

So today I spent the day with the grandkids while Jeremy and his wife went back with my husband to retrieve the final load of our belongings from the other side of the state. They left first thing this morning and are on their way back as I type this. They took the youngest child with them.... Jilly Bear... and left the other three with me (all age 6 and under). After breakfast we hit a few yard sales, but nothing really great there. My realtor called while we were yard-saling and said he could take me to see houses righ then so we left the yard sale and went to the first house.

At each house the grandkids announced which rooms would be theirs and if they liked the house. I was starting to think they just liked every house until we came to one that the yard was pretty sad-- in fact it was dead. When we were leaving they informed my Realtor-- George-- that they didn't like that house because the yard was too messy and they would have to clean it up. They told him that was too many weeds to pull! We both laughed (and agreed). By the last house the three-year-old needed to go potty and George told him to go ahead and go at our last house because it was empty. So the three-year-old went and then announced that he liked the house because he could potty there. So of course we chose that house to put an offer on.... no, really we did.

From there we drove some back roads to get to Parma and pick up grandchild #4 to join the party and ended up on some windy lost roads chasing yard-sale signs that led to a pile of rusted junk in a yard that looked worse than the messy yard house we'd seen earlier. After we picked up #4 we headed to Micky D's for their Iron Man happy meal boxes (forget the food of course) and then on home to rest a bit. Did I say rest.... with four children 6 and under.... That's funny. Oh... I forgot the mailbox incident at house #3. My other son and his wife tagged along for the first 3 houses and when we were leaving house #3 Jason took out the mailbox and dented his car. Right then I decided that house was bad luck and crossed it off my list.... no really... I did.

So when we were home resting I was sitting staring at the big screen in my eldest son's house and more than one remote. I asked the children to show me how to use it and they all tried and I could tell they were thinking I was a rookie. Together... with some teamwork.... we were able to get real channels and it eventually came on. After we ate our lunch and they played outside for a while we loaded back up and headed to the movie. I had looked up the wrong time, so we got there an hour early so we ran across the street and went shopping for some shoes for Tucker, the five year-old who will be starting kindegarten next month. Seems his feet have been on their own growth spurt. We were in luck... Iron Man was on sale. We appeased the three-year-old who also wanted Iron Man shoes by telling him that he would now get his brother's coveted Transformer shoes. To which the older one said, "No, I'm keeping them." I explained that they were too tight and he said, "I know, but I like them." So.... I'll let mom and dad wrestle them from him to pass them down.

And then we were off to see Shrek in 3D. We were doing pretty well until two of the four had to go the bathroom. Of course it was the 3 and 2-year old. Did I mention it was a 3D movie. I had another rookie moment. I sent the 3-year-old into the stall next to me and helped the 2 year old try to be a big boy and go potty like his cousin and when I went back to his stall to see how he was faring.... he was dishing his 3D glasses out of the toilet with his hands. And yep.... he had peed. But he didn't flush "cuz his glass falled off and they would go down too." I grabbed a towel and took the nasty things from him and threw them violently into the trash then we spent five minutes with soap and water on the hands. As I was rinsing his hands I noticed a lady staring at me and looked up thinking she was going to tell me the two-year-old was escaping.... the lady was an old friend I haven't seen in 7 years or so. We hugged and talked briefly as I tried to hold on to both toddlers and finish drying hands. It was all just weird and awkward. So we survived the movie and came home.

The 6 year old punched the code into the garage and asked if she could text her mom. Really???? I guess if it helps her spell.... I said we'd just do it the old fashioned way and call. Seems they hit a heavy rainstorm and it was taking longer than expected to get back. They should be here by midnight. The children will have survived another day with Grandma and they'll be happy to have someone back who can turn the T.V. on. I just hope that don't call my new house the pee house. Kids have a funny way of naming things. Maybe I should buy the weedy house just to psyche them out.... or maybe I'll just go to bed and collapse about now. No wonder their mom is so skinny!