Keeping things on track!

Over the past 5+ years, I have had the fortune of being able to help my daughter and son-in-law out by watching their children Monday through Wednesday (and other times when needed) when both of them are at work! My daughter's stepdaughter is 12 1/2 and my grandson will turn 6 in a couple of weeks. The other grandparents watch them on Thursday and Friday, and if one of us needs to switch days it usually works out!

This past Sunday, my daughter left town on a work trip -- the company she works for is acquiring a new territory about 8 hours from here and she has been sent to this area to help with the transition and training of the staff there. At the time that she left, she was going to be gone for 2 weeks, but after working through as much as the transition team was able to on Monday it appears that it might be extended for a week!

This is a big adjustment for my grandson -- the last time that Mommy was gone for work more than a night or two was when he was 7 months old, so he does not remember! Leading up to her departure, he expressed a lot of frustration to everyone because he is scared that his Mommy is not coming back and he is especially worried about his birthday and whether or not it will happen if Mommy is not here!

Monday morning my son-in-law had to be at work at 6:30 am, so I went over to their house at 6. As the grandchildren woke up, everything was fairly normal since it is summer vacation from school so they are not usually up by 7:30 when Mommy leaves for work. But as lunch time drew near, Toryn started talking about what he was going to show and tell Mommy when she came home for lunch. Of course, his older sister quickly reminded him that Mommy was not going to be home for lunch and his mood quickly changed!

After many reassurances that he would get to talk to Mommy on the phone that night, he calmed down and pretty soon asked me if I would read him a book. He picked out a book and then stood in front of me with a confused look on his face. When I asked what was wrong, his response was. "Grandma, I know I am almost 6 but can I sit on your lap while you read to me?" It has been months since he voluntarily climbed up on my lap to read or watch TV -- I did not realize how much I have missed it until he asked that question! With tears threatening, I replied, "Toryn, you can sit on Grandma's lap whenever you want to!" He was beaming as he climbed up and I started reading to him!

In many ways, keeping things on track while my daughter is away is parallel to our community here at WA! While we are working through training courses, we have the structure and guidance to keep us on track -- being told to complete one task after the other. Once we finish the training, that big piece of structure is gone and we have to learn to manage our time and how to get along without the guidance of Kyle's training and rely on others to help us learn and develop further!

What can you do today to help others in the WA community or to reassure them? I bet you can find many things to do without looking too hard!