All Tuckered Out

I had planned to spend Sunday afternoon puttering around happily in my garden. I had put my sister, Suzanne, on a plane back to Atlanta that morning. We had a great visit and I enjoyed her company immensely, but I was looking forward to getting my house back and to a quiet afternoon with my dogs and my flowers.

I had a little plumbing problem, so my nephew came over to fix it. It took 3o seconds. Duh! He had 20 month old Shannon, my great niece, along. He mentioned that Shannon's mom was working that afternoon and he and Shannon would be doing errands all afternoon. I looked at little Shannon and felt she shouldn't be dragged in and out of a car on such a beautiful afternoon , so I volunteered to watch her for a couple of hours.



Oh, silly me.


Now, for a toddler, Shannon is very good and very sweet. She talks, she laughs, she plays well and thank goodness, she kept her diaper clean for those couple of hours!


She also loves dogs.


Lucy Lou stayed as close to me and as far away from Shannon as possible. I couldn't believe how she squeezed behind my chair when Shannon approached. But, I don't think Lucy Lou would ever nip or try to bit Shannon.


Gracie, on the other hand, has on previous occasions nipped at Shannon - always missing her, thank goodness. However, on this day Gracie was in a better mood and after 937 times of reminding Shannon to stay away from the doggies, it all worked out.


My house isn't exactly child proofed, either. However, Shannon left most things alone. We spent a lot of time outside watching the birds, looking at flowers, playing with a balloon that had floated into my yard. We ate blueberries and had juice. We counted as we went up and down and up and down and up and down my staircase. She can now count to 13! Well, maybe she misses a few digits in between. I marveled at her sense of wonder, how everything was new to her. She loved watching the birds take a drink at the bird bath and giggled with delight when one took a bath. She repeated the color of the flowers and laughed when a snapdragon flower kissed her nose.


When her mom, Pam, came to pick her up I was ready for her to go. Pam suggested we all order pizza and that Patrick join us. NOOOOOOOO! I told her I had a ton of stuff to do (which I did) that I didn't get done with Shannon around. So, we each ordered our own pizzas and off they went.


And I fell exhausted into my recliner. Whoosh! I was toppled by a toddler! I was tired! I realized the last time I watched a child her age for any length of time was when I watched her father at that age. He is now 34. Do the math.


The main reason I never had children of my own is because at the time I should have been having kids I had no patience. None. I knew I could never be the type of mother I would have wanted to be. Older now and with some patience, I wonder how I would do if I would have had the patience I have at 52 when I was 32. I still don't think I have enough, but I did very well with Shannon. Although there were no tears, no screams, no accidents. That made a big difference on how I enjoyed our time together. And, I did enjoy being with her.

Shannon can come and stay with me again. For 2 hours. Maybe in a month or so when I recover.