South Dakota 2: My Parents

My parents were made to be grandparents. They remind me so much of my own grandparents and the way that they were with us kids when we were young. One of the things I was looking forward to about this trip home was the chance for my parents to spend some uninterrupted time with Rusty. He is at SUCH a fun age right now and is just a true joy. I couldn't wait for them to see and experience all of the fun things he is doing and learning. He had a blast with them! It wasn't long before he was snuggling with them, and hugging and kissing them several times a day.

Every morning we would get up and the first thing we did was go and see Grandpa in his office. My dad gets up early every morning and does his devotions and then starts work for the day. We would go into his office and pretty soon Rusty knew what to expect. MAN does that kid love his grandpa! It didn't take long before he recognized Grandpa and would reach for him with a smile on his face. My dad does this awesome gibberish language, I remember thinking it was so cool when I was a kid, and apparently Rusty feels the same way! Any time my dad would speak this gibberish to Rusty he would look at my dad in awe, and giggle. Grandpa also gave Rusty two great new experiences, his first ride on a golf cart and his first ride on a John Deere-granted it was the lawn mower, but it is a REAL John Deere! Dad also discovered that Rusty loved the spray from the garden hose, and he got several giggles out of him.

My mom is a wonderful grandmother. She loves to snuggle with her grandbabies and will do anything for them, and for her own babies too! Every morning she got up earlier than she needed to so she could take Rusty and play with him while I went back to bed for an hour or so. I know that she would have enjoyed sleeping in, or even doing other things, but she enjoyed spending that time with Rusty even more. She read him books, played with him and his toys, and did whatever was needed to make sure he was happy! This even included finding him a crib! We discovered that Rusty was having a hard time sleeping in the playpen. My mom and I found a great crib and she bought a brand new mattress for it, as well as buying in a humidifier so his little throat wouldn't get dry! Talk about loved and spoiled. She also enjoyed feeding him and just getting lots of hugs and giggles.

I know that Rusty is going to really love visiting his South Dakota grandparents over the years. There will always be adventures, lots of snuggles, kisses and hugs.