LMAO! Some two year old! In any case I'm jealous. I don't expect to see grandkids for several years... if I live that long. It's all good though. The kid should do things on his own timetable.
Grandkids are the best because the old adage you can spoil them rotten and hand them back to their parents is not a cliché it is pure truth. However, as any military parent will tell you the part that stinks is three fold.
1. You will spend all of your vacation time traveling to wherever they live
~ Abilene TX was never on my MUST SEE list, but I pretty much now can tell you which gate out of Dulles we will fly out of, which one in Dallas we will arrive in, and how to get to the airport train to get to the gate we will leave for Abilene out of...that and what time those flights go.
~~ Even sadder is I know how to get to Sam's Club, the mall, LOWES and Hobby Lobby as if I lived there (bahahaa...if you are like Bullet and my DS they will go there for some home improvement project. DIL and I go to Hobby Lobby for some decorating project)
~~~ We typically in a yr will go out to TX 3 times a year for @ 4 nights/5days each trip. OLD JOKE ---- Visitors are like fish, they start to stink after a few days. We prefer to leave while they still love us, and while we will still miss them as soon as we leave. Anything IMPO over 5 days you start COUNTING the hours until they GO! At least that was how it was for Bullet and I during his career with little ones around. Loved my family, but it becomes an issue, as a couple and family you want to stop playing host and get back to reality.
2. You miss the big things that the "civilian" grandparent doesn't really miss.
~ Our grandbaby came home to VA in Nov, when she was just about turning 1 for a week trip. Trust me when I say my DS is a spitting image of Bullet, fencer will attest to that fact. Grandbaby went open arms to Bullet, but if I tried to hold her, she screamed BLOODY MURDER. Not wanting to force it, I handed her back to Bullet and she immediately settle down.
~~ Just saying as a grandparent in the "real world" they see you frequently, there is no fear of that stranger. The memories are there on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. basis. Not many months.
~~~ DIL lived with us for 3 months while DS was deployed. Her, grandbaby and their 2 dogs! Saddest day in recent memory was watching Bullet strap the grandbaby in her car seat with a recent picture of us while he cried, knowing because of his new job he would not be able to see her for a yr. Sadder was when DIL called and said the grandbaby would not let go of the picture and the entire drive kept pointing to the picture and saying SMANPA.
3. If the cost of flying to see them, or the OMG buying crap for them to stay with you while they visit doesn't make you broke---think about just the small things----diapers, wipes, fruit juice, bath time, and now add in the pack and go (we actually bought a crib) and the high chair for them (1st grand baby), plus the toys, and downloading FROZEN on Amazon when they visit for a week or two. NOW add on the next layer.
~ If married, there is no way your wife(future grandma or in my case Nonna) will not go into TJ MAXX and not see the cutest little outfit for your grandbaby.
~~ HINT: Pay for AMAZON PRIME....free shipping. Think CHRISTMAS
In the end grandbabies are the best, but at work my clients laugh with me. I say all the time, I will always be in debt since I started having kids and it never ends! Think about it!
~ Pre-school ---OMG you are kidding me you are charging me this much for them to be with you 9 hrs a week?
~ Intramural sports--- how much, and now I need to buy the gear too---shin guards, cleats, etc?
~ Elementary school --- I need to buy wrapping paper to support the school?
~ Braces --- OH please send me back to the pre-school bill!
~ Traveling sports team --- See above!
~ CAR and Cell phone
~ PROM
~ College APPS
~College
~2nd kid COLLEGE
~3rd kid COLLEGE
~ COLLEGE GRADUATION
~ COLLEFE GRADUATION #2
~ WEDDING
~ COLLEGE MASTER DEGREE (FELLOWSHIP)
~ Grandbaby
~ COLLEGE GRAD#3
If you are like us with 3, 2 yrs apart, I still have 2 more to get married. I am 53. Basically, I work to pay for the future bills. Not trying to divert the thread, just trying to say, becareful for what you wish for because you might be like me and working A LONG TIME.
