Fun with Victoria

While Barbara was off to Utah and Idaho to help with Will, along with Will's parents and siblings, I got to spend a lot of time with my beautiful granddaughter, Victoria.

Victoria and Will - June 2010.

My son Russell, his wife Sarah Jane, and Victoria are living with us right now.  Russell graduated from UT law school last spring, and has been very busy since getting ready for the bar exam which will be held at the end of July.  When Sarah Jane is at work, Barbara has been taking care of Victoria.  Victoria will start day care next month after she turns one.

Russell needs to keep his full attention on his bar exam review, so I happily volunteered to watch Victoria during the day.  I will have to say that it has been a long time since I spent so much time with an 11 month old.  I now have an even greater appreciation for those who regularly take care of small children. Victoria is literally into everything that she can think of, so it has been a lot of fun keeping up with her.

This is how my last week went:

• Get myself and John up and ready for the day before Sarah Jane handed over Victoria.
• Drive John and Victoria to John's adult care.  I discovered that the snaps in children's car seats were not designed for older fingers.
• Run short errands before returning home.
• Feed Victoria.   Change Victoria.  Repeat as needed.
• Put Victoria down for a nap.  Pick up Victoria because she doesn't want to nap. 
• Feed Victoria.  
• Put Victoria back down for a nap.  I discovered if I lay down on the bed next to her crib, she eventually decides that if Grandpa is tired, she must be too.  
• Log into work and try to get some work done while Victoria naps.
• Pick up Victoria when she wakes up for nap and feed her again.  I found if I put the high chair next to my laptop on the kitchen table, I can answer emails while Victoria and I are eating.
• Take Victoria to pick up John from his adult care.
• Kill some time by going to Target and buying baby things.
• Bring John and Victoria to the office.  Get John signed on and then take Victoria around for visits.  Victoria is very popular among my co-workers, some of whom do very odd things trying to get her to smile.
• Change Victoria.  One of the days she had a super poopie diaper that required a trip to the men's room.  Luckily, one of my co-workers took her off my hands so I could wash those hands and dispose of the diaper.  The same co-worker said he doubted if his grandfather ever changed any of his grandchildren's diapers.  We discussed how things have changed, and for the better.
• Follow Victoria as she crawled down the hall way.  The elderly mother of a co-worker in the next office from mine passed away, so my co-worker has been out.  She decided to come back into the office yesterday afternoon just so she could do something besides deal with her mother's death.  In her absence, Victoria has been crawling up to her door and was irritated that she couldn't crawl in.  She was happy that the door was open yesterday and my co-worker was very happy to have Victoria visit.  I think it brightened up both their days.
• Sarah Jane comes by on her way home from work and picks up Victoria.  I then spent a few more hours at work with John trying to keep caught up.

This has been probably one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for me, spending so much great time with Victoria.  I know she won't remember when she gets older, but I don't think I will ever forget it.