Granchild Volley

One thing that was nice while we were on vacation was that there were grandparents around. Grandparents are wonderful people. They scoop the baby out of your arms when you arrive and never give her back for the rest of the visit. With a grandchild present, all children are invisible to the doting adults. Attention is focused squarely on the baby, where it should be.

When we made it to PA, Aveline was snatched from the car and ushered into the cabin. Grandpa had her out of her carseat and on his lap before my husband and I could make it to the door. That is when the games began. During the next few days, Grandma and Grandpa (im)patiently took turns holding and feeding the tot. While one held her, the other hovered close by, waiting for the moment when they could steal her back. Dan and I watched the Grandchild Volley with much amusement. Sometimes strategy was used to hustle the child out of grasp, such as a hot cup of coffee offered to the holder or a toy dangled across the room to entice the child. Other times, one would volunteer to change a stinky diaper, just to get sometime alone. My favorite was "checking" on the sleeping child. When that happened, the person almost always emerged with a bleary-eyed baby and a grandparent insisting that she was awake.

Dan and I had a mini-vacation from the baby while at our parents' homes. It was nice. I know at one point, Dan and I mused that we actually missed our baby. We had to participate in the game to get our "baby time" in. We definitely were spoiled by our vacation. And so was Aveline. Since we have gotten home, less time is spent doing anything other than holding our princess. She demands it.