Visits from grandmothers

Over the past three weeks, all grandparents came to town.

We needed help with child care while our nanny, Ana, was on vacation. So, both grandmothers came in shifts to babysit. Grandpa visited on the last weekend.

Noni, Michael's mother, was the first to arrive. She had a little bit of trouble with the buckles on the high chair. Instead of waking Michael up to help, she made do by using a scarf to tie Austin to a regular chair. Looks like he stayed put while eating his strawberries.






During her stay, Michael and my aunt, Pat, put the finishing touches on redoing the backyard patio. We had a nice dinner outside.




Normally, we don't let Austin have desserts. But we made an exception for Knott's boysenberry pie. It's fruit, right?





On Noni's last day, we went to the Santa Ana Zoo.




They enjoyed looking at the animal displays and the abundance of monkeys.

Austin in a big egg.

Noni started a tradition of going on a before-bedtime walk in front of our house. She let him sit on the fire hydrant and play with car handles (not the best idea). Austin also learned to say "moon" around the time she was here. Pretty much every night, Austin says, "moon," so he can go out and look for the moon on his walk.

Grandma, Sarah's mom, arrived just as Noni was leaving. In fact, Grandma got off the same plane that Noni boarded.

During Grandma's visit, we went on a trip to Costco for some staples. But Grandma couldn't resist buying Austin this truck and helmet set. She claims that Austin was physically drooling over it. I think he was just teething.

Grandma's visit coincided with parent-and-me swim lessons. Austin learned how to blow bubbles, but he mostly just wanted to climb on the pool stairs.

I dunked him underwater for the first time. See, he didn't cry.

We took Grandma to a concert in the park at Hart Park, where Grandma led Austin to the dance floor. They were groovin'.

Grandma also joined us on our Taco Tuesday tradition at Taco Mesa. Austin colored on his placemat.

He took a big bite out of a full taco, instead of just picking out the meat and tearing off scraps of tortilla.

Austin was getting so good at coloring that Grandma bought him a box of crayons and coloring books. He got this elephant from story time. Serious art.

Next time, we'll bring you pictures from Grandpa's visit.

-Sarah