Meet the Grandparents

I've heard it repeated by every professional I've talked to and every baby book I've read: you can't spoil a newborn.

Well, maybe you can't.  But Grandma can.  Oh yes, she most certainly can.  She has superhuman spoiling powers.

Let's back up.  Last week, Aaron's parents, Becky and Ed, came to visit us from Cleveland.  I use the term "us" loosely, because it was pretty clear that Leo was the main event.  For grandparent names, Becky went with the classic "Grandma", while Ed went with "Gido" (Jid-du), Syrian for grandfather, the same thing Aaron and his brother called their grandfather.  We were so excited, we even dressed Leo up in his little turtle onesie, in honor of Grandma's pet, Mr. Little Turtle, and Aaron's Methuselah-like childhood pet, Mr. Green (which is actually a lady turtle; a turtlette).

So, when Grandma and Gido arrived, we took some nice family shots.

And then Grandma assumed the Grandma position: in the rocker, sweet baby curled up against her chest.  Like so.

Now, the normal human endurance for rocking a baby is an hour, maybe two.  But Grandma?  Grandma can rock a baby like it's her full time job.  Literally.  Eight to ten hours a day.  And, no question, she's willing to work nights and weekends, too. Grandma likes her job.

And Leo loved it.  Who wouldn't love being cuddled and rocked into deep, blissful sleep all day?  But if you sleep all day, then what happens at night?

This happens.

Wide awake baby.

But we made Grandma and Gido pay for their spoiling.  We took our revenge in the form of a wholesome New England fall activity.  We took them apple picking.  In the rain.  Take that, Grandma!

Of course, we had to be out there too.  Maybe we didn't totally think this one through.

Aaron seemed to have a blast though.

And Leo got to sample the harvest.

So Leo's got his days and nights totally flip-flopped, thinking 2PM is for sleeping and 2AM is for funsies.  He also thinks that the crib is for suckers and that the good sleeping is up against someone's chest.  It's okay, it was worth it for some quality family cuteness, like this.

                                       

Aww.  That's nice.

I'm sure we'll manage to get him all straightened out eventually.  And then my parents will come and lovingly screw it up all over again.