A Glimpse At Bumpaw Life Episode 1

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22369 – 831:

Here’s the haps:

This is by no means going to be a comprehensive chronicle, even of the current adventure. It is an exhausting thing, to say the least, but there’s a lot of fun, as well. Normally when they come to visit and you get tired you can just hand them off to mom or dad or even brother or sister and that’s the end of it but that day is still several days in the future. But you know, Grand-Mama and Autie Tadda and Bumpaw (AKA Grand-Papa) have a bit of knowledge and experience between us. This ain’t our first rodeo.

In fact, several months ago the same daughter who is in Arizona helping a family that is in a bad way broke her ankle on some stairs so severely that she was not allowed to put any weight of any kind on it, and she and the whole family wound up having to stay with us for five or six weeks. This means that the littlest one’s routines and personality are already well known to us and us to him. We know what daughter and son-in-law want and expect and they know what to expect from us. Plus they come to visit at least once a week and this all helps a lot. We all just try to do some part and before you might think to ask, no, there is not a poopie diaper (That’s a nappie to some of my foreign visitors although I can’t imagine why) that has ever scared me. Not that it’s a task I relish but it is also one I am not afraid of. I will take my turn when I have to. I know firsthand how gross babies can be.

Back in the days when I was a newlydad I had a job at the nicer men’s clothing store in town and had just purchased, one payday, while on the job, a brand new navy blue sport coat. I had dressed that day with the intent of buying it and wearing it at work and all was well. Other veterans of parenthood already know the story without being told. I went to meet my wife and newborn, firstborn son for lunch at the diner across the street. As soon as I picked him up, “Blap” (there’s some onomatopoeia for you)! Baby barf all down the back of the new jacket. Let me tell you, Ben has never been a halfway kind of guy about anything, and even as an infant, when he barfed, he really barfed. Four bio-kids and six bio-grandkids later nothing has changed. Babies can be pretty gross and toddlers as well. It’s part of the job, except, as I said, nowadays I can usually just hand him off to dad and say, “I think this boy needs your personal attention.”

Anyway, life is more than poopie diapers. I laughed out loud just now. A new motivational poster that will fit in with modern culture nicely, Instead of saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” perhaps it should be, “When life hands you a poopie-diaper-baby, grab some wipes and change it.”

This post is not about that.

We got a couple of pictures on the tribal group text when they arrived in Arizona:

Teenage grandson on left with his dad

Meanwhile, back at the Thiel Haus, Auntie Tadda got out some paints and paper and let the young artist see what the wheels of his truck and his fingers and whatever else could be used to create art:

We had a very cold, wet, rainy, snowy couple of days and so Bumpaw took his two helpers and went out spreading grass seed. The five-year-old was able to operate the little electric handheld spreader while Grand-Papa used the one with the crank. The eighteen-month-old made sure to find every mud puddle to jump up and down in as well as throwing some seeds all around. You can’t see it in these pictures because I try not to post their pictures on the internet.

Remember, the Good Book says:

Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

(Pro 17:6 KJV)

19 Comments

  1. Such nice pictures. The kids are so cute and lovely. One just wants to hug them. The camping tents look nice too. Is that a huge tree like cactus behind your tent? So exotic looking. LOL.

  2. OK. Nappy because children used to be ‘protected’ from accident with Napkins. And diaper? 😉 Enjoy every second of them Herb – they are exhausting but so life affirming.

  3. Great fun!

    Oh yes, we had a barfer. The nice thing about most clothing (although not new sport coats) is that you can chuck it in the washer. Not so with car interiors. Many times I threatened to trade our nice van in on one with industrial vinyl seats and rubber floors. I took to calling him Wyatt Urp (another onomatopea).

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