DYING EGGS

Today I babysat Kadyn for a few hours. We had soooo much fun. That little three-year-old could talk the socks off a preacher. He went on and on...every now and then I could recognize a word! I heard Mommy and Gramma a few times. I told Tammy that he was telling tales on them so it might have been good that I couldn't understand him.

While Tammy was gone, Kadyn and I colored, watched Spongebob, played with zsu-zsu pets. He started off across the table from me. Then he moved his chair next to mine. I said to him...you've been sitting in a chair next to me ever since you could sit by yourself. "A little baby?" he said..."yes, since you were about six months old." Shortly, he was in my lap...sitting on my knee, anyway. I said, "you're getting big to sit in my lap." "But Grammy, I been sittin in your lap since I was a little baby." ..."Yes, you have. But your feet didn't used to drag the floor." and then he giggled as only he can!

When he let Chancey out, he stayed out too. Then he came to the kitchen door and said, "It's hot, Grammy. You come out here, too." I knew why. I had told him to stay on the porch...and if I went out, he could go into the yard. And sure enough, as soon as I hit the porch, he said he needed his flip-flops!

Earlier, when he first got here, I told him we were going to color Easter eggs when Tammy got back. A lot of his conversation centered around that. If he asked once, he asked ten times, "When we gonna color the eggs?" later, a said, when your grandma gets back. And I had to explain what each thing in the kit was and what it did and how we would color the eggs. While we were outside, I watched him walking around the yard, looking down. He looked under the steps, behind the air conditioning unit, searched his power wheel car. I said, "Kadyn, what are you doing?" Are you looking for something?" He looked at me like I didn't have good sense, and said, "Grammy, if we gonna color eggs, I have to find them!" I lost it! I laughed so hard, I had a coughing spasm. I had to bring him inside and show him the pan full of hard-boiled eggs that we were going to color...otherwise, he'd still be looking for eggs because he wouldn't believe me when I tried to explain that I already had the eggs.

When Tammy got back, the first thing he said was, "Gramma, we color eggs now?" That child was so excited. Tammy was mixing up the dye and he was right at the sink trying to help her. We tried to show him how to use a spoon and gently drop the eggs into the dye...and to dip them out. No way! He plopped them in, splashing dye every which way...Thank God, I had thought to cover the table with a thick towel!

I gave him the wire egg dipper and showed him how to use it. He did...with one hand. The other hand went into the dye to place the egg on the dipper. Tammy said his mom would be mad because he had dye all over him. I told her to blame me for it. It was worth all the blame in the world to see how much he enjoyed dying those eggs! When the three dozen were done, he said, "Grammy, cook some more!"

As he took the eggs out of the dye, he placed them in the egg carton. When we were finished, he said, "I take them home." "No, no...leave them here until Sunday." "No, Grammy, I take them home!" I ended up giving him one dozen to take home and he was satisfied.

Cleaning him up afterwards was a trip! Tammy had him at the sink, scrubbing him with soap and dish soap. I was standing by him, supervising. He stuck his hand over the faucet...squirting water all over me...and giggled. A couple minutes later, he reached over and turned on the sprayer...getting Tammy that time...and giggled.

As he went out the door, carrying his eggs and goodie bag, I said, "I love you, Kadyn." "I love you too, Grammy." "You come back soon." "I will tomorrow."

He left one tired...but very happy...Grammy.