Vacationing with the grandparents AKA "Saving BabyBear"

The final leg of our family vacation involved 5 days in Colorado with my parents. Since we left Tofino, I had been looking forward to having an extra set of hands to manage BabyBear. I had forgotten that these helping hands also have strong opinions about what BabyBear needs.

To be fair, I don't have a completely stellar track record in the mommy department. While my mom was babysitting last week, she found BabyBear sucking back on a piece of twine. I had affixed said a piece of twine to BB's play mat when I needed something (anything!) with which to hang some brightly contrasting mobile ornaments. That's right, I had tied the string of asphyxiation to the mat of neglect. In my defense, I did it at a time when BB didn't even know that she had hands, let alone how to pull on mobile pieces and put things in her mouth.

In light of my stupid mommy moves and my mother's 33+ years of experience, it's no surprise that Colorado heard a lot about how I'm going to ruin the precious grandchild. For the sake of completeness, shall we visit my shortcomings? Oh yes, let's!

1. My not quite 4-month old daughter should not be left to nap in the middle of a king sized bed. Between falling asleep and the moment of wakefulness, she could develop the ability to roll 3 consecutive times, mount the protective wall of pillows, and vault herself from the bed.

2. BabyBear is ready to sit up and eat. Specifically, she is ready to taste vanilla ice cream infused with a tasty peach rum sauce. ("If she's allowed those Vitamin D drops, surely she can have a taste of Haagen Daz.")

3. When BB cries, it must be as a direct result of something I am doing to her. And the only remedy is a covert grandparent rescue. Never mind if Tom is half-naked in the vicinity of the crying babe. He'll learn to either remain fully clothed at all times or get accustomed to his mother-in-law breezing past while he stands in his gitch.

The house has been rather quiet today, what without anyone waxing on about BabyBear's preferences, outstanding intellect, and delightful demeanor. Perhaps I'll Skype my mom tomorrow to help ease the silence. Along with the aforementioned silliness, she does have some good ideas. And I'm certainly very new to this game.