Austin's visit December 2005

     I just had my grandson, Austin, visit me for 4 days. The first three went really well. We had fun, and I didn't get too frustrated. I got him a little candy cane tube with gum balls that had a little helicopter with Santa at the top. The helicopter had soft rubber propeller blades that spun around like a personal fan. He loved it to death--literally, because the last day he was here, the propeller unit broke off, and he was so sad. Poor little guy. 

     We rode on a lot of buses this week, because his dad kept wanting us to go take him something or another at work. It's two or three buses each way to get to where he works, and with all the waiting at the bus stops, it was too tiring and boring. I must admit that Austin found ways to entertain himself most of the time by playing with rocks, making a riverbed or wash through the stones, getting "mail" out of the boxes that were near the bus stops containing booklets and newspapers about homes for sale, apartments to rent, etc. Then he would deliver them to me through the slots of the bus stop bench. 

     I guess I was just tired or maybe we had too much soda during the trip yesterday, but I was constantly getting after him about something or another. Now I feel bad about that. When I was raising his dad and my other son, counselors told me to pick the battles and not make such a big deal about every little thing. That's still hard for me, I guess. 

     His uncle came down from Globe, Arizona last night to pick Austin up. I was expecting Austin to stay for another day, so I really did feel bad since I had been so upset with him during our last day. He still seemed to be in good spirits, though, when he left.