Yesterday, I had the joy of babysitting the LRB and two of her older sisters. The oldest granddaughter brought them over here. She will be graduating from high school this year, and she and her mom had a "girls' day out," just the two of them, while the rest stayed with me.
And what a day we had!
Eight-year-old "Mar-Mar" (per the LRB) finished her wedding dress. Yes, she's started a bit early, but one must stay on top of things. She began designing it on a wire dressmaker frame that a co-worker saw at a thrift store and gave to me. She has been hand-sewing the pieces on, a few at a time, each time she visits. Yesterday, she declared that it was finished. It still looked much like this . . .
. . . and she did not think to devise a way to get in/out of the dress (e.g., a zipper or button closure), so we had a devil of a time getting it off the dummy (had to more or less crush the wires together to make it smaller). A piece or two came loose in the process. But we got it off, and she tried it on, while the LRB bellowed in the background, "I want to wear it!" With some basting clips and a yard of shiny fabric, we satisfied her with a bridesmaid's dress. ;)
Twelve-year-old Lou-Lou has been operating the sewing machine since she was Mar-Mar's age. It occurred to her yesterday to make a body pillow for her bedroom. Her Papi donated an old T-shirt to the cause, and she sewed up all the openings and stuffed it so tight it looked like the top half of the Incredible Hulk. Then she said, "It needs legs." Once again, Papi came to the rescue with a pair of old flannel house pants. We had to un-stuff the Hulk to sew the shirt to the pants. The damned thing was six feet tall when finished. By this time, the grandfather had left the house to attend a funeral, and the LRB was begging to go outside and "swide" on the swingset, so we sat the Hulk in Papi's recliner, put on our coats, and went outside.
The LRB swid and swid and swid, and briefly complained when Mar-Mar wanted a turn. After Mar-Mar had a go at it, the LRB cried, "Baby's turn!" and ran to me with her arms out to be set on the swide - uh, slide.
When I could not stand the cold anymore, I swooped up the baby and herded everyone inside. By this time, the Hulk (who objected to bending) had swid out of his chair and was laid out in the living room floor. For an instant, he scared the sh*t outta me. I said to Lou-Lou, "That thing is going home with you!"
After that, we visited with Nanny for a little while. Since it was so cold, the LRB and I took the car to Nanny's, while the other two sisters walked/ran the long driveway. On the way home, I let the LRB sit in my lap and drive. She thought she was big stuff.
Back at my house, Lou-Lou decided Bob (he had by then acquired a name) needed a little more work, so she fashioned a head out of an old sweatshirt, stuffed it, and hot-glued it in place. (He doesn't have much of a neck.) Then he needed facial features. A strip of gray faux fur yielded eyebrows, a moustache, and a toupee.
Following a fine dinner of macaroni and cheese and jelly beans, the LRB looked tired. We found Goodnight Moon in the book stack, but before she'd found the second mouse, the LRB was out cold.
The girls' daddy showed up to get them about 15 minutes later.
Bob went home with them. ;)
P.S. - I forgot to mention the coolest thing . . . .
My father and the girls' father had a secret handshake. Yesterday, before Granddaughter #1 left my house to go shopping with her mother, she and the Little Rotten Baby did the secret handshake. The tradition lives on. :)
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