Channeling Grandpa Tucker

Heidi and Sam brought their family to AZ for Christmas, and their only request in return for sharing their holiday with us was for me to watch their little ones while they spent a day together. 

Done and done.

Ben, Lily and Micah helped me shepherd their four littles and both of my littles on an adventure yesterday morning. First stop was the bookstore.

 

 They wandered for almost an hour, bringing me books or exclaiming at superheroes or princesses they found.

 Books are one of my favorite things, and I love sharing them with these little people.

After our book purchase, Lily convinced us that Chick-Fil-A would be infinitely better than McDonald's because 1) Chick-Fil-A, and 2) they have a play place.

Wow. Chicken nuggets disappear quick in that crowd! I was grateful Ben and Lily were there with me, especially when it was time to round up the monkeys to go home. Many of the littles didn't think their time was up yet, but we got them all buckled in the suburban and heading home pretty quickly. I've forgotten how much time it takes to do all the carseats and convince toddlers to change tasks.

I haven't put Heidi's kids down for naps in a long time, and I know Heidi does it easily and quickly. I was hoping I would have the same luck. Ellie went to Eve's room with her new princess book, Thomas quickly fell asleep in the pack-n-play, so all that was left were the two middle boys. I tucked them in with their books (after Jonah tearfully told me that I'd bought the WRONG book and he wouldn't look at that one! He changed his mind after his nap, so all is good.) and went upstairs. They were laughing and playing, so I headed back downstairs with my laptop to lie down next to them on the couch. They quickly settled down and fell asleep.

At that moment, I thought of my dad. He always used to volunteer to settle the toddlers down for their naps, reading or telling them stories, rubbing their backs, and quietly talking to them until . . . they both fell asleep. 

Just like my dad, I've never met a nap I didn't like, so I turned off my computer, grabbed a stray blanket from the floor, cozied myself up next to my two toddler boys . . . 

 . . . and fell asleep.

It was a good day.