Autumn and Emma

24 Hours with Autumn and Emma

It started when we decided to help Autumn’s parents by taking her to the doctor’s office to finish with her 2-year-old shots. We picked her up and brought her home with us the night before.

On Friday morning, we readied for the 45 minute journey to Eustis. Dressed totally in pink, including her boots, Autumn charmed everyone. She’s friendly and says hi to people. Did I mention our little Gemini is a perfectionist? At the office, there’s a child-size table and chairs. She wanted the blue chair and wasn’t happy that one of the little boys took it first. But she waited patiently until he got up, then claimed it. When the boy went in for his shots, she made sure all the chairs were set around the table correctly, and she had to make sure the books were all straightened in the rack.

She had her Cabbage Patch doll that her uncle found (new) at a garage sale. She named him Boy. The workers asked her to see Boy since it had been so long since they had seen one.
Then it was time for us to go in to see the nurse and get 4 “ouchies.” They give the shots in their legs these days and I wanted to cry right with her. The tears turned off right away when the nurse brought the lollipops her way. “Thank you,” Autumn said. “I need one for Emma, too.” I explained to the nurse that Emma, 6 months younger than Autumn, is Autumn’s aunt. “I need one for my mommy, too.” So with three lollipops in her hand, we bid the nurse goodbye. On our way out I heard the nurse tell another worker, “I was afraid she was going to keep asking for more lollipops for every relative she had.”

We headed to Burger King for lunch. Chatting away, and having forgotten about her “ouchies,” Autumn ate, but still had her fries. Her Pappaw told her she could take them along with her and eat them in the car. That made her happy—until Pappaw had to stop quickly for a car in front of us.

“Great-Pappaw! You made me drop my fries!’ She also managed to drop her opened lollipop on the floor.

Then we went to pick up Emma—better known as Hurricane Emma to the family. Emma had completed her nap, for which we were very happy. She tends to be a total grouch if she doesn’t have a nap or get her sleep at night.

Once in the car, we gave Emma her lollipop and Autumn decided to eat her Mommy’s since her’s was dirty.

We arrived at our house half an hour later. The girls chatted away and of course, managed to get all the toys out. One of our bookshelves now serves as a toy storage center. So there’s large legos, which they managed to build me (Gammy) and Pappaw apartments—at least we think that’s what they were.

Soon, Autumn’s legs began to hurt from the shots. They had told us to give her Tylenol. I had no children’s, so I trekked to the store to get that and some ice cream for later. Autumn was okay when she sat, but when she stood up her legs got stiff and that’s how she walked and said they hurt.

The girls stayed with their Pappaw. While I was gone, Emma told Pappaw that she pooped. He told her to get up on the couch so that he could change her diaper. He got her diaper off and cleaned her up, but told her to stay put until he took the dirty diaper to the trash so the poop didn’t fall out onto the floor. But just as he turned to go to the garage, the Hurricane, who doesn’t always listen, stood up and pooped again—on the floor, which splashed onto the coffee table and onto the leather couch. Her papaw managed to get a clean diaper on her and took the dirty one to the trash can outside the garage. Then he cleaned up the mess on the floor, on the couch, and on the end table.

But then Hurricane Emma said, “My tummy feels sick.” And promptly threw up on him. He moved her to the couch (we keep it covered with a blanket for these occasions—easier to clean) and she threw up again. He then sat her in my leather chair while he went to get stuff to clean it up—and she threw up in that chair!

When I arrived home, he was standing by the kitchen sink with Emma trying to wash the vomit out of her hair. I took the pillow and throw off the couch and threw it into the washer, along with Emma’s clothes and her Pappaw’s shirt.

Once she got all that out of her, she was hungry. And so was Autumn. I told them we had to bathe them first—they didn’t smell too good. I discovered that Autumn had forgotten to ask to use the potty and had a diaper full. I got her cleaned up and out to the trashcan with that diaper. Got the bathtub ready for them. Started stripping down Emma. Guess what? She had a diaper full, too! Once more to the trashcan. Poor trash men—they’ll love that batch of trash!
Once they were cleaned up, I fixed them more food—chicken nuggets and applesauce, hoping that would work for them. It managed to fill their tummies. So they played for a while longer. Then I was told by Chris (Emma’s dad and Autumn’s Pappaw and our son) that if Emma wasn’t in bed by 8:30 she’d give us fits. She was rubbing her eyes by eight and picked up her security blanket. I told the girls we’d go to my room and watch TV—they were sleeping with me. Yes, I have a King-sized bed, so the three of us and my 2 dogs crawled in. I was surprised how quickly they went to sleep that night.

Then at 6:30 a.m. they and the dogs were ready to rise and shine. I flipped on the TV to a kid’s show and they watched it while I put the dogs out to do their business. After diaper changes it was time to eat breakfast. Do you know how often 2 year olds want to eat? They are little eating and pooping machines!

The girls generally play well together, but sometimes they have tiffs. Like when Larry saw Autumn push Emma. He told her to tell Emma she was sorry. She sweetly said, “I’m sorry I pushed you Emma. I didn’t mean to do that.” Right!

And the two of them would get their faces really close and argue. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but you could tell it probably wasn’t nice baby talk.

As if pooping and vomiting wasn’t enough for grandparents to endure, I had Emma come up to me and say, “Gammy, here’s a booger.” My response was, “Get a tissue and wipe you nose and your finger!”

By the time Chris and family arrived, it was lunch time and time to feed the little ones again. I had given them a snack shortly before—chocolate chip cookies. They took their little fingernails and chipped away at the chocolate chips with before eating them. And then they wanted applesauce, too. Good combo, right?

Chris and Sandra wanted to go see the Manatees. We live close by Blue Springs and I’ve never been there, so I tagged along. Larry can’t walk that far. For a while I kept Autumn’s hand, but soon discovered a little one pulling on you makes your hips feel like they want to explode. I opted to push Noah’s stroller, which was much better. Emma liked to jog along, while Autumn was okay with taking either Sandra or Chris’s hand. Chris carried Emma, then Autumn on his shoulders. We did see the manatees, but they refused to come to our side so I could get close up shots.

Anyhow, for those of you wanting grands or kids, this is what you can expect from your day. But hey, it’s a great way to lose weight—you simply can’t sit very long—and you can’t eat much because after two bites, they need juice, or milk or another whatever!

Dee