No, Bubby! - Babysiting Grace Catherine Deming

Bose clock radio from Internet.

BUZZZ! Was awoken from a sound sleep at 6:15 a.m. so I could go babysit my 22-mo granddaughter, Grace. Her mom was getting her wisdom teeth pulled.

I arrived on time with my cheese-mushroom omelet. This is the very first time I've babysat Grace. Her other grandmother, Barbara, is visiting her son and dtr/law in southern CA.

The reason Grace calls her "Mom-Mom" insteada the already designated Grandma is b/c that's how Grace pronounces it.

 The four of us had b'fast together. Grace ate her delicious oatmeal with her fingers. Dan made me a cup of coffee with his now off-patent Taurig.

I asked that the cats be locked in the basement - Nudge and Doober - cuz they always try to get outside. Blank, the charcoal gray, is an old man now, even older than I am, and quite skinny as always.

Grace leads the way to the back yard which is on a slope. The lawn is dotted with toys. She got into every riding vehicle and wanted me to push her....for three seconds, before alighting.

Her favorite toy was a water toy - a double-tiered plastic basin filled with water - where Boy and Girl go swimming. You can either have them float on their backs or drown them, depending on your mood.

Grace is very strong and wanted to climb into the pool. Every time I'd tell her not to, she'd say NO, BUBBY!

I think it's the most adorable thing I've ever heard her say.

We explored the entire back yard - mint and oregano in the garden from last year - I had her smell all of em - NO, BUBBY - and I pushed her on the swing that hung from a tree, but I did not put the safety bar up on purpose, cuz I figgered I wouldn't know how to unlock it, but Grace insisted I put it on, plus she wanted to be strapped in.....she knows from experience what's sposed to be -

TWEET TWEET, she'd say, when she saw a bird. I sang When the red red robin comes bobbin along. A train came by, which she loves, and I looked at my watch - 8:15 am, when I'm usually in bed reading - and began waving, "That's Uncle Scott's train!"

Now we're back up by the house having another power struggle about something when I hear Dan calling out the window, "Hey, Mom!"

"What are you doing home!" I call.

"They took us really fast," he said.

Grace wasn't ready to go in yet, she was climbing on and off a wrought-iron chair, but I led her up the steep hill where she called, "Blue car!" which is what she calls their car.

Nicole was in bed with an ice pack.

I looked at her meds on a high-up kitchen table, stole a couple oxycontins since I'm a little short on cash and drove home.