Adventures In Sugar Land

     The other day I got to babysit my newest grandson, Baby Aiden, while his parents had to do Grown Up Stuff. I call him “baby” Aiden because I’m in denial about how BIG he’s gotten—five-almost-six- months old, 17 very solid pounds, and a little man hairdo; a serious hair do that makes him look like he’s ready for Baby’s First Briefcase.

   

Aiden and Millie, best of friends.

Aiden's parents went out to be Grownups, Aiden and I stayed home to hang out and play with his toys, and his doggie, and tell each other all kinds of nonsense-- it was great. I even got to feed him mangos and avocado baby food—because why even have a baby if you don’t get to put delicious stuff in his face? For the record, he thought the combination was delightful. I managed to refrain from licking the lid to the jar of baby food—something I always did when my kids were little, because I need to know if it tastes good before I expect them to eat it, right?

    There is a darker side to feeding a baby that time had mercifully blurred in my memory: in a bite of mango-avocado, out a diaperful of something more nefarious.

    Diaper changing is just like riding a bike—you might be a bit wobbly at first, but you get the job done. And diaper technology is light years a head of where it was 25 years ago, so that’s nice. Restickable Velcro-like tabs mean if you don’t get it right the first time you can try, try (try) again. And his parents even have a wipe-warmer, so that the wet wipes aren’t cold on his little tushie.

   Mission accomplished, Baby A and I went out to look at the Zoo. Ok, so maybe it’s not really a

Petting Zoo

zoo, maybe it’s an enclosed cat-patio his parents made for their two giant cats, but Aiden is young and impressionable and I like him thinking of Nana Sugar as Zoo Nana. “Oh, yes,” I’ll say to him, “when you were a baby I took you to the zoo all the time.”

  While we were watching the Big Cats, I became aware of something warm and squishy making its way up Aiden’s back...

To be continued