Grandma Visits Oz

Last week, Grandma O. arrived via Prius to the wonderful Land of Oz.  She got here just in time to hunker down with us for an ice storm that has become the weekly winter fare out here in the Plains.  It didn’t make for a very active visit, but we did get to spend lots of time inside playing with Keyven and catching up on conversation and stories too long for e-mail.

A highlight of the trip was Grandma getting to witness one of the first attempts at crawling.  As previously mentioned, Keyven has been working on his rollover skills recently.  During the visit, his occasional attempts turned in to perfection of the back to tummy flip (not counting an arm stuck under his body now and then).  The crawl attempt occurred during one such display, only this one included a brief tucking of the knees up under his little body.  Alas, it didn’t last long and hasn’t really happened to that degree since then.  But based on his previous patterns of learning, that means he’ll do it again in about a week and have it all figured out.  Until then, it’ll be lots of frustrated tummy time. 

The drool continues unabated.  Some days are worse than others.  The first day Grandma was here happened to be one of those.  Everything in sight in the mouth.  Drool everywhere.  It can only be the pre-cursor to teeth popping out.  Oh, how I dread seeing those little pearly nubbins poking through. 

Another recent development that earns major cute points started happening early last week, just after the flu epidemic tapered off.  Instead of crying like a banshee the instant he decides he’s hungry, Keyven has devised a new way to let me know he needs a snack.  He tries to eat my face.  It’s really quite adorable, but hard to catch on film.  Nana likes to pretend like he’s giving kissies but, if ignored, it will progress in to fussing that can only be cured by a big dose of milk.  He doesn’t discriminate when it comes to face eating, either.  Anyone in chomping range will do — Grandma, Aunt Victoria, my arm…

Saturday the weather improved enough that we took a trip in the nap-mobile to Independence (my hometown) for the grand tour of places I’ve lived, things I’ve done, where I was born, and other local highlights.  We had lunch at a diner called Eggbert’s (my cholesterol was a little low and my arteries were feeling parched) tried to get a Nancy’s sugar cookie (they closed at noon) and headed back to Parsons.  Grandma shared some of her toy finds from the thrift store: we have a fancy baby phone with lights and sounds (K’s new favorite), some keys for pretending like he has his own nap-mobile, and the classic Fisher Price colored ring stack.  

Oh, and let’s not forget the requisite naked baby pics, taken during bath time for future blackmail upon Keyven’s first date!  He’s still not a fan of the bath, so I’ll at least spare him (for now) from posting the screaming-wailing pics on here. 

It was a nice visit, albeit a little short, hemmed in by weather constraints and general life busy-ness.  We’re looking forward to a visit from Grandma and Grandpa in late April, before they head down to New Orleans to help with Katrina recovery construction. 

Photos, Top to Bottom: Yay! Grandma’s here!; Crawling — coming soon to a baby near you; The new phone tastes as good as it looks; The old VanDyne dairy farm; Not convinced that bath time is fun yet.