While we were in Mexico, Kye was spending quality time with Gramma! It made me feel so good that she got to play with him for five days, it made me miss him less knowing how much that time meant to her. And it made me feel guilty bringing him home! I asked Mom to write a guest blog entry about their time together. I know Kye may not remember it someday but that his Gramma always will 🙂
Have you ever met a child that is perfect in everyway? A child that is brilliant, adorable, incredible, precious, intelligent, loving, gifted, advanced, talkative, learns quickly, perfect eater, perfect sleeper?
“Of course not” you say? Well neither had I until a little over a year ago.
This child is the most remarkable child I know!
Candler “Kye” Parker
my perfect grandson!
When I was raising my two wonderful children, it was not proper to brag about how “perfect” they were. Besides that, it was annoying for others to have to listen to such truths. Well, now that I am a grandmother of the most perfect child in the world, I can brag and brag and brag until elephants fly, and it’s A-okay! So….here I go!
I was honored to take care of Kye while Emily and Zach (two perfect parents by the way) were on vacation celebrating their three year anniversary. Since I live in Florida and Kye lives in a perfect house in Georgia, I don’t get to see him on a regular basis. Thrilled that this opportunity would give me a chance to really bond with him, I began checking the days off my calendar months ago! For five fabulous days, I had Kye all to myself. Each day I couldn’t wait to see him in the AM and even though I was sad to kiss and tuck him in at night (perfect sleeper), I was worn out and ready for some down time! (confirmation that you definitely would be crazy to have children later in life)
Although I had plenty of ideas of things I wanted to do with Kye while he was with me, there were four things at the top of my list: 1) take him to my school to show him off 2) get him some Stride Rite shoes 3) play together outside in my new little blow up pool and 4) teach him how to say “Gramma”!
The first perfect day we were together we explored the house and tried out the new toys I purchased in anticipation of his arrival. Of all the toys I bought, Kye loved his new sunglasses and bathtub toys the best…..not to mention the cardboard box everything came in. He loved his new sunglasses so much that it took perfect skill on my part to pursuade him to abandon them. You see, Kye is not easily tricked (intelligent). He doesn’t have a short term memory like ALL the other kids I know at his age (advanced/gifted). Even though I could distract him for a few minutes by removing the glasses and getting him interested in something else, he realized in no time what I was up to (brilliant). So the glasses went back on! Here’s a video of him strutting around with his new shades on!
Adorable!
Lovin’ his new shades! Precious!
Playing with the new bathtub toys.
“I did it” Yup that is exactly what he said! ;o) He is so bright!
Negotiating with me as to what we should do next! (talkative) 
One of the numerous things I was amazed at, was how well Kye ate (perfect eater)! Avocado, linquini with broccoli, veggie burger, apricots, butter beans, green beans, zucchini, mashed potatoes, pbj, sweet potatoes, yogurt, cottage cheese, turkey wrap and of course his favorite breakfast…oatmeal mixed with green beans, a cut up prune, a half of banana, and a handful of peas! My perfect daughter certainly is raising him with some life long healthy habits! I’m so impressed by her perfect motherhood skills. Here is a cute video of him using his spoon!
He loved watching the birds, lizards, and cars outside while he ate!
Day two we set out to pay a visit to the school where I teach (Sabal Elementary) to finally introduce my grandchild to some of my coworkers. Not a day has gone by (since Emily and Zach told me I was going to be a grandmother) that I haven’t talked about my perfect grandchild to anyone and everyone who will listen to me. Needless to say, our visit went perfectly.
I’m so glad that my friends at work finally got to meet Kye!
I brag about him EVERYDAY to EVERYONE!
(they are so sweet to always listen)
Next “to do” item on my list was to buy Kye some Stride Rite shoes. My perfect children always wore Stride Rite shoes. I’m a firm believer that it is important that children wear perfect shoes especially during their formative years.
Kye was wonderfully behaved and I was so proud to be with him on this new adventure.
Getting his foot sized at Stride Rite!
Right foot size 4, left foot size 4 and 1/2! (perfect)
The weather didn’t really cooperate for us to play outside in the blow up pool so I pitched a tent in the family room thinking Kye would love playing inside of it. His favorite part was zipping the zipper on the door of the tent upppppppp then downnnnnnn. We did this over and over and over again! He did have fun “driving” his truck in and out of the tent.
Driving his truck into the tent.
I’d forgotten how active little boys are! We were on the go constantly!
Showing Gramma how to turn the light on and off (incredible)
So proud!
It seemed like every afternoon the sky clouded up, thundered roared, and rain pelted down. A typical Florida summer….which meant no pool fun again! So on this day we went to the mall to play on the indoor playground and buy some new toys for Kye’s roomtime (which wasn’t working out too well at Gramma’s). Unfortunately, the indoor playground was loaded with older children running around unsupervised! Grrrr. These were NOT perfect children! AND the KayBee Toy Store was no longer there! Double Grrrr! We switched gears and decided to ride on the mechanical vehicles….thank goodness Gramma had lots of dollar bills in her wallet! Here is an adorable video of Kye enjoying his first ride. “We” rode all the rides there (until I ran out of dollars) and I think the spaceship was his favorite. Here is a video of our future astronaut!
Waiting for Gramma to dig out her money.
Big Boy directing the spaceship!
Look at that concentration!
A successful mission.
“Now that I have everything under control, I can sit back and relax…Whew”
Checking to see if the spaceship has landed.
Let the race begin!
I am certain that Kye is going to be the perfect student when he enters school. He sat right down on the little rug and watched “Your Baby Can Read”
for a straight 15 minutes! (I was hiding around the corner so I wouldn’t distract him). At one point, he got up and danced and sang to the song, then plopped right back down and kept on watching! Now, isn’t that just as perfect as perfect can get?!
Engrossed in Your Baby Can Read!
Kye really enjoyed hanging out with Hurley (Brandon’s dog). He felt like such a big boy being able to “boss” Hurley around. Hurley was very patient! We spent LOTS of time opening and closing the sliding glass door to let the dogs out and let the dogs back in! My usual ritual is to give the dogs a treat when they come back in from “doing their business”. Well, Kye LOVED this routine and quickly took over! Needless to say, since the sliding door was like a revolving door, the dogs were awarded LOTS of treats! Here’s a little video of Kye in charge of Hurley!
Feeding Hurley lots…….
and lots…..
and lots
and lots of treats!!!
We never did get to play in the blow up pool so I decided to pretend we were outside and play in the kitchen sink instead. This is such a perfect video of him splish splashing in the sink (and a bonus video too)!
The last thing on my list was teaching Kye to say Gramma and I just know that among all that jibberjabbering some form of Gramma had to be in there!
Those five days were some of the best times (perfect for sure) I have ever had in my life. I’ve often described being a grandma as a “double love” emotion. When I’m with Kye, I’m flooded with emotions of deep love not only because he is my grandson but also because he is my baby girls baby…..it’s a double love ~ perfect!
Proud me!
Thanks Mom for being such an AMAZING grandmother to my son! I hope someday we get to live closer to each other so you can watch him more often. Zach and I are both blessed with such great moms who love our baby so much! We get to travel so often and know that he’s in perfect hands! I love you!
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