Grandstanding for Grandma

I just got back from my second solo flight with baby in as many weeks. We did pretty well, considering this last one was fraught with my typical travel drama. This round included arriving at the airport at 5:15am only to find out that someone–it’s still not clear to me whether it was Travelocity or Delta’s mistake–canceled the reservation on my ticket when I had to cancel my husband’s ticket. So glad I got up at 3:45am for that.

Baby held his cool through it all, minus a 15 minute scream fest on the tarmac in D.C. while the plane  was stuck in runway gridlock. I swear everyone was glaring at me as the minutes ticked by so unbearably slowly. I rocked him, I burped him, I tried to feed a bottle to him, I held him up to the window, I turned him on his tummy–I did everything I possibly could to get him to stop screaming. I finally had to whip out the boob, which is something that I never do in public–much less in front of a captive airplane audience–if I can possibly avoid it. Thankfully the larger woman in the seat next to me was able to scoot over to the aisle seat after the man sitting next to her bolted to the first available free seat one row over, so there was some discretion.

But even though we got to South Carolina a few hours later than expected, we got there without major incident. Grandma Linda and Great Grandma Pat were there to meet us, which was fantastic considering what a challenge it is to wheel a suitcase as you’re pushing a stroller and carrying what feels like the world’s largest diaper bag. Not to mention that I’ve pretty much worn the wheels off my Snap ‘n’ Go, so it actually takes some muscle power to maneuver it.

The weekend went by fast–too fast, as it would seem–but it was fun. We saw the family, did some shopping, had a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner, and even stayed up until 1:30am having girl talk over a bottle of wine (okay, so it was two). But the best part for me was watching Ian’s mom just love on baby.

She’s been basically biting her tongue since the day we got married about having kids. She’s wanted nothing more in the past decade than to be a grandma. In fact, when we asked her what she wanted baby to call her, she didn’t even think about it. No need for a nickname that would sound young, energetic, even stylish. It was Grandma. End of discussion.

Of course, baby was at his very cutest the whole weekend so she would just go ga-ga over him, reveling in his every mood and movement. But I think the moment she loved the absolute most was most unexpected.

We were out Christmas shopping and randomly my mother-in-law says we have to go into PetSmart; they were having an adoption fair and she wanted to see the dogs. I should probably note that she (a) has a dog and (b) volunteers at a dog shelter, so she’s a dog lover through and through. I think she was also trying to tell us something about moving on from Joey.

There were probably 20 dogs there hoping to find a new owner, including eight Burmese Mountain-Beagle mix puppies that were oh-so adorable. So, there was a lot of barking. I was a little worried that the noise might scare baby; he generally gives a little jump when there are sudden noises like the doorbell or the phone ringing.

But not that day, not my kid. And fortunately, I happened to have my Flipcam hanging out in the bottom of my purse, along with some receipts, crumbs, and a random curtain tie back. (Don’t ask.) Baby heard the barking and just cracked up. Why? No idea. But it was funny enough that it kept us yelling out, “Ruff, ruff!” or “Grrr, grrr,” at every dull moment during the weekend. Check it out:

As I said, I was lucky enough to have my Flipcam on hand to catch this moment for posterity, or at least for the amusement of grandma. I highly recommend anyone who has kids should get this thing. It’s cheap, small, seriously simple to operate, and you won’t over do the whole video thing. It’s just perfect for any spur-of-the-moment grandstanding for grandma.