More Fun than Monster!

Martin is such a good PaPa. He tosses, chunks, chases, roars at and in general, plays the best monster PaPa ever. The little grandkids come over with hope shining in their eyes that PaPa will be up to "scaring" them. They drop little hints like sitting on the top of his recliner when he is watching TV and "accidently" falling on him. Sometimes they tickle his toes, toss something on him, or stand in front of the TV. Of course he becomes the "monster" of their dreams when this works. PaPa is really good at playing possum. That is his way of saying that he doesn't want to play monster, and he can really wait those kids out. More often though, the Possum roars to life, scaring the dickens out of the kids. You wouldn't believe it, but Little Joe has figured him out too. PaPa can't resist those little squeals of indignation when Little Joe is doing his best to get PaPa's attention. It only takes a few seconds and Little Joe will find himself comfortable seated in PaPa's lap. This morning, PaPa was bouncing Little Joe on the bed, and Little Joe was squealing in joy. He got upset when PaPa wanted to stop, but I reminded PaPa that he started it. This has been the story around here since the first child of ours came into the world. With Jessica, I would be scared to death as he would toss her up in the air and catch her, but thankfully he never dropped her. His big strong arms have been the "boxing arena" for many bouts, with more than one child clamoring to get in on the action. Many times he has been dog piled with all of them on him at once, but I swear, he loves it.

On the other end, there are the dogs. They are huge, both around a hundred pounds or more, and very gentle with the little ones... Many times a baby has crawled over, around and under one of these German Shepherds, and they have just layed there, allowing it. Yesterday, one of my smaller grandchildren was spending the night, and sure enough, sneaked up on the back of PaPa's recliner, waiting to pounce on the "Monster". She did pounce on him, and he roared and grabbed her and tossed he onto the bed, right behind the recliner. She landed right on top of Rocky, the older Shepherd, and he just grunted. She scrambled off of Rocky, and patted the top of his head. He just lay there. Once again, she attacked the "monster" and once again, the monster tossed her back on the bed, right on top of Rocky. Since Papa was tossing over the back of the recliner, he could not see Rocky lying there. Rocky just lay there and let her land on him. This went on for a few minutes, and I thought that Rocky would get enough of it, but no, he let my granddaughter just fall all over him, not minding at all. These are wonderful dogs, so patient with the children, but very protective of the family. When Little Joe starts fussing, one of the dogs will come and get me. They lay by his playpen and watch him through the mesh. He grabs their ears when he can, and the let him. On occasion, Little Joe is the recipient of a wet doggy kiss, but he loves that too. I am looking forward to the time when he will toddle around behind the dogs, and I know they are too.

Between PaPa and the dogs, this home is kiddie paradise. So much to do, to hide, to run, to play. The dogs love the action, and love when the kids throw balls and things for them. It is a different story when a stranger comes around, because the dogs will do anything to protect their family.

One day, a UPS carrier came close to the door with a package. The dogs began to bark furiously, and the poor man had no idea that they could not get out, so he threw the package at the front door and ran all the way down the walk. At night, Rocky sleeps at the head of the hall leading to the bedrooms, and Jackie sleeps on the floor on my side of the bed. They are guarding their family. It is funny how they recognize children and missionaries. For some reason, they always know when the missionaries are at the door and welcome them in.

While the dogs and PaPa have all the fun, I am pretty much only good for snacks, laundry, meals and patience. I have a saying, "no one gets in trouble at Nana's house". This means that if the culprit is honest we can talk about the infraction. I do have a wooden spoon named Big Mama, but she hasn't seen action in a very long time. I guess just knowing she is available is enough. I wish I had been as patient with my own children as I am with my grandchildren. Maybe that is one of the perks of getting older, being more patient.

I am writing of these things tonight, because today I went with Becky to get Little Joe's 6 month shots. When I got home, one of my nephews who is older was watching the other three that come after school. As I settled in to look at the mail, I glanced around the kitchen. 3 bags of popcorn had been popped, the cupcaked had been raided, backpacks were strewn all over, the dogs were gratefully cleaning up cupcake crumbs and the kids were no where to be found. I walked back to my bedroom where we have a 60" tv on the wall, and two giant recliners at the foot of the bed. There they were, a whole nest of kids with popcorn in thier mouths, (which by the way had cupcake frosting on them) popcorn in the chairs, on the floor and even by the door. Soda's had been opened and thankfully were still in the can. On the dresser, two packages of Reese's peanut butter cups were opened, and the candy was long gone. As I walked into the room, the children absently said, "Hi Nana" and went on watching, munching and messing as though I wasn't even there. I should have snatched them up, given them a speech about being little pigs, and made them straighten up the room. I didn't though. I played the Nana card. PaPa and the dogs may be the fun ones in the house, but I am the Nana. I may not be the "monster", but I can be the Nana that patiently explains why they shouldn't be eating so much popcorn and soda especially after snitching cupcakes. After all, what does it hurt? My motto is, "sugar 'em up and ship 'em home!" That is way more fun than "monster!"