Grammy's A Sucker

Today we took a roadtrip to Selinsgrove to visit my mom. Since she's a race-car widow this summer (my dad was off at yet another mid-life-crisis Corvette racing school) we decided to take G3 to visit his Grammy and hang out at the farm.



While down at the pond, G3 busied himself filling his little dump trucks with the gravel under the pavillion. My mom and I chatted and I told her a little bit of G3's latest temper-tantrum-throwing. I'm sure she thought I was embellishing when I described him throwing himself on the ground and screaming loudly when I tell him no, but soon the little monster decided to show Grammy for himself.

As usual, gravel is only good for dump-truck-filling for so long, and eventually must become a source of food. As G3 started eating handfuls of choking hazards, I did my usual telling him "no" in a firm voice and even putting him in a time-out in his stroller. (Sidenote: placing small child in stroller on slate patio and not strapping them in is not conducive to the "don't look at the child" part of time-out. Just an FYI.)



Anyhow, my mom thought I was being too soft and I should use a sharper tone of voice. I welcomed her to try since G3 was apparently starving for gravel and immediately started catching my eye definantly, and then shoving a handful of stones in his mouth, as if to say, look Mom, I'm doing it again. Whatcha gonna do now?



As G3 fiestily grabbed his 900th handful of gravel, Grammy grabbed his hands and made a sharp "uuuhhhhttt!!!" sound that I remember all too well from my childhood. This was followed by a mean face and a "NOOO." Also very familiar. This happened about 3 times in a row, including one time that he was merely trying to put a goldfish back into his bowl. (My mom's really strict:)



G3 immediately welled up with tears and stuck out his bottom lip in a very pathetic my-world-is-ending way and started to sob. In a move that was very unfamiliar from my childhood, his pity-party worked and Grammy scooped him up with hugs and kisses and "Oh I'm sorry, buddy." What a sucker.

So between Grammy yelling, and then hugging, and me laughing, G3 was pretty confused. Don't be surprised if you see me on "Nanny 911" one of these days being told that my parenting methods are inconsistent and confusing to my child!