Head Counselor Of Camp Wifey

 So we took Little Man home with us on Tuesday, and decided to call his stay Camp Wifey -- T Day Week Session. It's been wonderful.

We stopped at Anthony's Coal Fired, and he had some "pizza withOUT the sauce." Our server was a smart young fellow -- he made sure there was also nothing green on said pizza. Green when not expected, to a nearly 5 year old, can ruin a meal.

We headed home after that, and I supervised my first child shower and butt wipings in 3 decades. Somehow these tasks fell to me, though Wifey had said she would do them. And I realized something about us as grandparents.

Wifey has, by far, the MOST patience. She can read to and play with the boys for the longest. Unfortunately, she no longer has the energy or focus to do a lot of what they need -- and for some reason, despite my obesity and age, I still retain these. So both Wifey and I together are a GREAT grandparenting team -- though it's clear to us this parenting thing is truly a gig for the younger.

Little Man is endless energy, on little sleep. We had him sleep with us, and it took him awhile to fall asleep, and was up talking a few hours later. Luckily, some IPad time, despite the experts' warning against screen time and sleep, lulled him back to sleep. Wifey was able to sleep through a lot of it.

Finally, at 545, the sleeping thing was over. Little Man and I headed over to House of Bagels. He asked if it was a store, or a real house MADE of bagels. These observations and questions are priceless. We got bagels and nova and cream cheese, and brought them home -- I made it the way he likes it -- lots of fruit on the side (clearly the influence of his dietitian Mom).

We got home, and there was a wagon ride all around the hood -- 1.6 miles. It was also a peacock hunt -- we heard the critters, but in contrast to normal -- saw zero. Wifey bought us tickets for the 130 showing of "Moana 2" at the Falls, which was a throwback for us -- a typical weekend with the Ds was a movie there followed by lunch at Johnny Rockets. Little Man lasted for about half the movie -- but kept asking questions loudly. We all realized it was better for him to watch at home -- truth is -- movie had some rather abstract themes about inter generational connections that I found hard to follow...

On the way home, we gave Little Man a choice: home or a stop at Greer Park, which has a great new tot lot. He said home, but in my inimitable way, asked him to just at least LOOK at the park, which he did, and changed his mind. What followed was a 2 hour highlight, in the golden light of the afternoon.

The park used to have a rocket ship slide, where we took the Ds, so the fact that we were in the same locale with our grandson was amazing to us. Little Man made friends with Dan, who asked me my name. When I told him, he had me meet HIS Dad, also a Dave, and a 4 year ago NYC private equity transplant. He didn't know there WAS a Greer after whom the park was named. Carpet bagger!

After the day, Little Man passed out relatively early, thankfully. The sleeping was better, but by 5 am, he was UP. Ippi had a tough night, apparently, and so I gave Little Man breakfast and put on his latest Disney cartoon, followed by a fish and turtle feeding. Our neighbor Mariela texted -- did Jaco want to play with her girl Amelie? He did indeed, and so we walked over, to be met by D1 who was in her old 'hood for some yoga. Mariela showed us her gorgeous home improvements, and the 5 year old Amelie and nearly 5 year old Little Man played, and then swam. They are both very smart and verbose, and listening to their banter was a delight.

At 1130 we left, and I gave Little Man his goodbye bath in our enormous, rarely used master tub. Wifey was to dress him -- she was nowhere to be found - so there was a naked Wifey hunt -- Little Man found her outside pulling weeds. She dressed our guy and is now getting ready -- the hope is to arrive early so we can set up the desserts we bought at Milam's Tuesday night -- and I may just make sure Jonathan's vodka is sufficiently cold.

TDay is my favorite holiday, by far -- all about great food and drink and being with those most near and dear . We asked Little Man what he was thankful for -- he said his toys, and his family. Anything else? "I'm thankful for G-d." So Joey's shabbos prayers and daily tefillin wrapping have an effect, and I couldn't be happier, even though I don't observe most of our religious laws.

I am MOST thankful to the Big Man his many blessings -- one of whom sits behind me on the couch as I type, waiting for his grandma so we can leave. Ah -- T Day...