grandparents

I believe God's gift to every parent is grandparents. And thank heaven one set of The Mayor's grandparents live 3 miles down the street from us. If you had asked me 15 years ago if I would ever want my parents to live 3 miles from me, I would have said "heck no". And the "heck" probably would have been replaced by something not appropriate for the family blog. But cut to more than a decade later, and I could not be more thrilled that my parents are just 3 miles away. They love our child more than I think they love us (and I am totally fine with that) and they are always willing to watch The Mayor (which I am really totally fine with).

PopPop and Mamie usually watch The Mayor on Wednesday nights so we can go to our small group. I am not sure who looks forward to it more, them or The Mayor. Today was one of those days where I could not drop him off early enough, and once I did, I threatened to maybe not come back to get him. All day today he was so sweet...until we made a trip to Publix. And even then, he was the perfect child. Until I decided to give him a dum-dum lollipop which he accidentally dropped on the floor. He just looked down at it and then started to cry. He couldn't understand why I wouldn't pick it up and give it back to him. And such a rookie mistake, I didn't have a backup. I got him to stop crying when we were in the checkout line and I let him help put our groceries on the conveyor belt. Until we ran out of items and then the waterworks started back up. He was crying so badly that another mother came over and tried to talk to him and occupy him long enough for me to pay and get out of there. We got into the car and I immediately called Mamie to make sure they were home. And off we went...groceries still in the car...to Mamie and PopPop's house.

Of course, in perfect toddler fashion, he was so well-behaved while at Mamie and PopPop's. What is up with that? Don't you just love how your child has no problem being a pill for you but will be such an angel when around other people? Oh well, this is when God's gift to us parents really comes in handy. The only thing that would make it even more perfect would be if Big Daddy and MeMe lived closer.

giving "belly kisses" to the dog-dogs

working out on the Wii with Mamie