It's Not Baby-sitting Anymore

It’s not that time simply flies by. It’s more like a booster rocket carrying your life and daily events along with it. One moment, you’re holding your first born grandchild in your arms and the next she’s going to homecoming with friends. Where the heck did time go?

We affectionately call them the ‘Colorado kids’ because they were made for that state. They’re at one with the outdoors, the mountains high and the adventures it brings to their lives.

Sharon and I have been going out to Colorado every year for over fifteen years, minus last year with Covid. The routine is usually the same. Brian and Amy give themselves a week or long weekend away from home and Nana and Papa become the new semi-parents in town. The grandkids love it as much as we do.

As this stage of the game, I know the greater Denver area pretty well. So when Amy gives me her elongated list of the kid’s games, practices, scrimmages and lessons, I usually know where I’m going. It’s changed over the years with specific sports and locations but it still fills up usually six out of seven days and some evenings. That is not counting school activities and social events.

The kids love my chauffeuring skills since it usually includes spotting out of the way garage sales, Cold Stone Creamery, their favorite drive-thru, and parks to play in. Sharon loves garage sales because the kids know they have to negotiable for any item they want to purchase or Nana won’t be happy. Brian and Amy (especially Brian) just grits his teeth when the kids come traipsing home with their ‘treasures’ bought for a dime on the dollar.

Over the years, some things never change according to the mantra from Nana

Our last visit to Colorado in September was heavy with familiarity. It began with an early morning Lacrosse game, several soccer games, gymnastics and plenty of time for art lessons.

Spencer continues with his gymnastic lessons and is progressing like his father did years ago. Maya’s Lacrosse game started at 6:15am Saturday morning (warms up) on a wind-swept hilltop in shroud-covered South Denver. Veteran parents came equipped with thermos of some kind of liquid, hoodies, and blankets. Fortunately, at the last minute, I had switched out my shorts for jeans and a fleece.

By the time we took Samantha to her first soccer game later on that morning, it was bright and sunny and we were shedding our jeans, jackets, and blankets from earlier in the morning.

Sharon outdid herself this time with her art lessons every day.

But this year it was different. We were no longer the grandparents baby-sitting the grandchildren.

Sharon and I were struck by the resiliency and maturity of these three kids from years past. We no longer had to chide, coercive or bribe them to go upstairs to take a bath and get ready for bed. We no longer had to argue against more time playing outside or engaged in card games. When it was time for bed, it was time for bed.

The grandkids are growing up…much too fast. That includes the Minnesota pair too.

I think it hit both of us this fall in Colorado. Sharon and I still got to kiss the kids good-night. We still got to feel their warm soft pajamas, wet, just washed hair in our face and loving embrace that only a grandchild can give a grandparent. But it was different this time around. It’s wasn’t baby-sitting anymore. It was being there for them, with them, and alongside them. They could now take care of themselves and we were only the adults in the room to make sure daily routines got done.

Mile High Return

Unfortunately, three of our five grandchildren live in Colorado. Of course, they wouldn’t have it any other way and they’re probably never moving to Minnesota. So to see them Sharon and I have to jump on a plane and fly to the mile high city. It’s been an ever-evolving process with them getting older with each visit.

Over the years, our trips have evolved and changed as the kids have grown and developed their own set of interests and daily activities. The LaComb household has morphed from its earlier years of daily naps, playground time, and early sports ventures into traveling teams, advanced gymnastics and one of the top soccer teams for her age category in the state.

My, how things have changed. There used to be naps in the afternoon or at least some periods of quiet time. Not anymore. The kids and their parents are throttled up and moving every hour of the day. As the ‘grandparents,’ Sharon and I just follow directions, traipse along and ask what is happening in the next hour. I probably have sat on the sidelines of every major soccer and lacrosse field in the greater Denver metropolitan area.

There is no longer time to venture north to visit boulder; a loss for me. We haven’t been back to our old familiar stomping grounds lately. But it’s been replaced by Saturday morning garage sales, Starbucks coffee nearby, cooking and art classes at home.

Then there is always plenty of fresh air on the sidelines of innumerable sporting events including gymnastics, soccer, swimming competition, lacrosse and the occasional triathlon for all three kids.

Since our ‘dress up dinner’ was such as success with the Minnesota grandchildren this summer, Sharon decided to do the same in Denver.

We went to ‘Brio,’ an upscale Italian Mediterranean cuisine restaurant nearby. That meant a sport coat and suspenders for Spencer, fancy new dresses for Maya and Samantha and a hairdo for Sammi that made her look ten years older (at least in the eyes of her ‘papa’).

Dress up dinners are  always a great way to teach the children about table manners, ordering food, asking questions of the waiter and behaving properly as young children should in that setting. Unfortunately all five grandchildren have taken to the fancy restaurant settings, interesting foods and refined environment which can only hint of the foodie adventures ahead for all of them. They must have gotten that quality from their Nana. It certainly didn’t come from Papa.

Brian showed us his data center. No photos were allowed but sufficient to say it was a large room with more computer power than most of us could comprehend.

A couple of years ago, Sharon began introducing cooking classes as well as art classes to all of the grandkids. They took to the various painting techniques like children to recess. This time around Sharon only had time for teaching several new painting techniques to the kids. They used gauze and string along with alcohol ink and acrylics to create some interesting masterpieces.

It’s been fascinating to watch the LaComb family change and evolve as the grandchildren get older. As the grandparents, Sharon and I have become the sideline cheerleaders, morning coffee companions, ‘treasure seekers’ at garage sales and drivers for a lot of sporting events. (It must been universal, there are seldom if ever games close together or at the same time.) That means carpooling, separate trips and the necessary logistics that would make UPS proud. It’s all part and parcel for a trip for mile high adventures.

New Sheriff in Town

It’s a routine that’s worked out very well in the past…even with a new member of the family. The parents leave town. Sharon and I come into town to take care of their kids, our grandchildren. It provides a wonderful one-on-one exchange, new routines for everyone involved, treats and experiences not normally associated with their everyday lives. It’s our chance to spoil them, teach them, train them and impart our collective wisdom of more than a few years on their malleable minds. The phrase I whimsically used to use was that ‘there was a new sheriff in town.’ That’s no longer applicable.

We’re no longer ‘the sheriff’ in our mind or theirs. Our Colorado grandchildren have grown so much over the past year and we just spent two weeks with them in London and Paris. By now they know the routine. It’s still our chance to bond, teach, inspire and motivate beyond what their parents already do on a daily basis. What has changed ’our routine’ is their maturity and expanded list of extra-curricular activities. From piano lessons to gymnastics to soccer tournaments, just to name a few, the kids are extremely busy and we’ve become the defacto chauffeurs, caterers, art teachers and card sharks. Oh, and I can’t forget ‘Cash.’ He’s changed the equation too.

Our first evening with the kids began quietly enough with piano lessons and then Spencer’s gymnastics lesson. We even had time for the kids to watch a cheerleading class held at the far end of the mats.

Samantha’s weekend soccer tournament probably took up the majority of our time and attention. Everything else had to work with or around those forays to the vast soccer complex in a neighboring community. Hundreds of brightly clad young girls and boys and their ever-present, over eager parents crowding the sidelines and shouting directions at the coaches and refs.

Samantha is on a great team this year and regularly scores several goals per game. That’s not just an overly enthusiastic Papa speaking either. That weekend they won the tournament and provided great entertainment. It wasn’t as stressful for me watching her play as it was when Brian wrestled in high school but it came a close second.

It was important to work our traditional garage-sale explorations into the weekend equation. The kids had to negotiate their own deals with the sellers if they wanted the collectables their parents weren’t crazy about having around the house.

As in London and Paris, there were the obligatory art classes with Nana teaching the use of alcohol ink, acrylics, and new methods of expression.

Walking Cash, the newest member of the family was a daily occurrence. This labradoodle is only the second dog I’ve ever liked. Then we were treated to several dog shows with Cash the wonder dog performing all the new tricks the kids had taught him.

Breakfast ritual with Nana’s world-famous chocolate chip pancakes.

No weekend visit from the grandparents would be complete without several games of Poker and Trash to learn the art of winning and losing.

Then a last minute Costco run found a special treat from Nana for our last dinner before leaving. While in Colorado we heard from the Minnesota duo who had just completed a twenty mile bike ride that weekend. All of our grandchild are avid outdoor enthusiasts. We are blessed with five very active grandchildren.

And, to be honest, visiting Colorado any time of year is a fun experience too.