Bonding with Nate-dog

I'm finally getting to spend a bit of time with my nephew Nate. He's two now, and truly, I do not know him very well. With visits only 1-2 times a year, it's difficult to truly bond. But we are bonding now man!

Ray and Gabbi headed out of town this morning for a night in Orlando and some fun at the Magic Kingdom and Island of Adventure. At 7:15am I took over for them -- trying to do all the things that Gabbi normally does in a day.

First up ... take Grace to school. Kids strapped in, Grace's sunglasses on, and Nate's juice cup and cheerio cup in hand, and we were off. (These are cool -- the kids can get the cheerios out but they don't spill -- wild!) We made it in time to not get locked out of the hallway and have to go through the front office which Gabbi informs me is an accomplishment. I met Grace's teacher, stored her bag, put her snack away, and then realized -- I went to first grade in that very classroom. With Mrs. Harden. The room was so much bigger back then. Today it is K-4 class, but back then, it was for big six-year-olds.

I have some crazy memories of first grade in there. The most embarrassing being that I once wet my pants and stored them in my desk. Okay, that isn't entirely true. I wore shorts under my dress so no one could see my underpants. (All the girls did this.) I was playing outside and didn't want to take the time to go to the bathroom. When I finally acquiesced to the urges to relieve myself, I made it to the bathroom, but couldn't get my shorts off in time. Not knowing what to do, I took off the shorts, put them in a paperbag, and put them in my desk. I meant to take them home with me that afternoon but forgot. I remember the look on my mom's face when I told her I left them in my desk overnight. What was the big deal? But she didn't think this was a great idea. She told me to take the bag out of my desk as soon as I got to school the next morning and put it in my bag. I did this. I remember that Mrs. Harden crinkled her nose when we did "desk checks" that day. It took awhile for my desk to smell good again.

I also remember a day that nearly all the kids in the class got in trouble but me. Apparently they built a trap for other kids to fall in. I came back from recess and everyone was getting in trouble and crying, and I had no idea why. I am not sure where I was during the fun times in the sand, but I remember being relieved that I had been distracted elsewhere.

Anyways, enough memories of first grade. The room looked completely different than it did when I was in there, 26 years ago (holy cow!) but Grace enjoyed showing me off a bit.

Nate and I then took off. I scooped him up only to realize his pants were all wet. Okay, upon further investigation, it wasn't wet. It was more involved than that. I managed to change him without too much trouble in the back of mom's van which I am borrowing for the weekend. It went okay.

During our drive to and from school, we listened to a CD with Bible songs. There were 60 tracks. Folks, I knew like 99% of the songs. I haven't heard some of these in ages. "The Lord told Noah, there's going to be a floody floody . . . I am a C. I am a CH. I am a CHRISTIAN . . . MMMM and wide, MMMM and wide, there's a fountain flowing . . ." I was really boogying with the kids. Grace seemed impressed that I knew so many songs, but when she was gone, I think Nate just thought I was strange.

My parents' house is actually inbetween Grace & Nate's house and the school so we stopped home for a bit to let the dog out. We took him to the dogpark. Nate seemed to enjoy throwing the ball for Scrubs although Scrubs didn't seem impressed with the length of Nate's throw. We then let Nate play on the slides on the kids section for a bit, and then we headed back to my parents' house. I got the stroller out and the three of us took a walk. Walking Scrubs with a stroller is a million times easier than walking him solo. The stroller, and not my arm, takes the brunt of his tugging. It was great!!!! I look forward to walks with dog and stroller in the future.

We are now back at Nate's house, and it is time for him to take a nap. It's been a fun day so far, and Nate has been wonderful. I don't think he is going to like me disrupting his play session for a nap. I also think he doesn't like turkey. Gabbi warned me this might be the case. I put cheese, crackers, and carrots in front of him with great big smiles. The turkey was not taken so well. It got thrown pretty far! :)

Okay, off to tackle nap time.