S and DIL are planning to send their kids back to daycare soon. It has just been so difficult and exhausting to care for 2 kids, 2.5yo and 6mo, while also trying to be a semi-good employee. Their daycare never closed for essential workers, so hopefully they have good protocols in place.
My son is also sending his almost 20 month old back to daycare this week as they are opening back for essential workers. It is a smallish school, and he and his wife feel comfortable about her going.
My daughter on the other hand, who will be WFH until at least the end of the year, isn’t ready to send her 11 month old daughter back. While she and her husband have worked out a schedule for work and baby care, my daughter does a good bit of her work after the baby goes to bed, so mom is lacking in the sleep department! As it is time for GD to move up a group next month, she has been on waiting list at two different daycares as my daughter didn’t love where she was. Due to many food allergies, my daughter didn’t feel comfortable with the care at the old center. Hopefully she will be able to get into one of the centers by their new house; if so, I bet she will go back next month after her 1st birthday.
My older sis is a grandma. Yesterday, I went to help as she has a 7.5 year old, a 3.5 and a 2.5 year old, plus our mom and a 4 month old infant. The 4 parents all returned to work (2 older ones are from older D, younger two are from her middle D). The dad drove the two youngest over but forgot the formula and baby bottle and nipple, so I had to go to 2 pharmacies and a grocery store to try to get something suitable. I give her credit — she’s a very devoted grandma and the kids were having a great time together. It sure is a lot going on!
I have missed a lot of this thread and no time to catch up, so forgive me if this has been covered before. My 14-month-old GS lives 1.5 miles from me. I babysit often on weekends when the parents need to get out for a little break. Up until recently, I have gone to their home to watch him. The last couple of weekends, they have brought him to my house so they can do things at home (yardwork, painting, etc) without having to worry about watching him. I have found I need a high chair. What do you all use? I don’t need one to stay out all the time, so is there one that folds up and can be stored when not in use? Any specific brand that you have that you recommend?
@musicmom1215 , I have something like this which straps securely to the seat and back of a folding chair. The tray can be removed, and the height is adjustable, so the older child can reach the table.
https://www.target.com/p/safety-1st-sit-snack-38-go-convertible-booster-seat/-/A-14660981?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&CPNG=PLA_Baby%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Baby&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9008162&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1248099&ds_rl=1242884&gclid=CjwKCAjw5vz2BRAtEiwAbcVIL4E6xFf4oDLgD_MdqnnUuCUY8a0MY0mz4vdWfjxr2u4BHFb-U72CCxoCJEQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
I have something similar to what @mominva posted. I found it on Amazon. When my kids were little, we had a seat that could be clamped onto a table, but you wouldn’t want to attach that to a nice dining room table and it didn’t double as a booster seat.
We, being the pack rats that we apparently are, have three high chairs (clip on, full size with tray and wooden restaurant style!) left from our children’s early days 
Both my S and I have versions of the “clip on to the table” chairs that we use on the kitchen counter and on the outdoor tables. Ours is an old Sassy seat, but the new one he has does have a good bit of padding on the clamp pieces so i would think if you have pads on a fine table it would be ok. This is it, I think: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IOGIM9S?tag=experiencedmommy-20&SubscriptionId=AKIAIWHZ4HVQ6BSYP2PQ.
I bought a high chair a few months ago at IKEA. I think someone here may have recommended it. It was VERY inexpensive, can be cleaned and taken apart easily (although first time I had to watch a YouTube video). I really like it! https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/antilop-high-chair-with-tray-silver-color-white-silver-color-s89228434/
^That’s the one we have for when GD visits (actually, family uses it at home, too). Cheap, stable, doesn’t take up much room.
Our grandchild, 23+ lbs. with chubby thighs, uses an “Upseat” that’s made in Canada. It has a removable tray and can be strapped to a dining chair. The leg openings are larger and spread apart more than similar seats. Once that’s outgrown, I think we’ll get a BabyBjorn booster seat.
At home, the parents have both the Upseat and a Keekaroo high chair. I searched all over last year and didn’t find any others that are not made in the PRC.
Toys are a challenge, too. So many of the major brands are manufactured in China, although they’ll sometimes advertise being designed in the US. With the recurring problems of lead found in toys, including those from popular labels, and our own history with a tainted product, we’re avoiding anything made in China for as long as possible. Not sure what we’ll do about electronics when that time comes.
Thanks for your suggestions on high chairs. Got to babysit again tonight so I haven’t had time to really look at the details. Can’t believe the price on that IKEA one!
I saw my super sweet 1 year old granddaughter this weekend. They spent the night for the first time since maybe December and baby girl didn’t sleep well. She is not talking (she babbles), but is signing A LOT. She LOVES dogs and signs dog everytime she sees one in a book. My previous dog was in my son’s wedding and she LOVES looking at the wedding book, but only the pictures with the dog in it. We have a new puppy (70 lb 7 month old black lab puppy), who is overly exhuberant with her, but she LOVES him. You say “where is Mommy?” or “where is Daddy?” and sometimes she will point to them, if you say “where is the doggy?” She points to the dog and signs “dog”. It is super cute. I miss her already. I am retiring at the end of June and hope to see her more often.
We got to babysit today while D went to the dentist! Spent a lovely time at the park. She has a great covered wagon that we hauled her and all her toys and equipment away along and had a fine time playing and chatting!
GD is 18 months. Signs a lot, uses words though hard to make out, but has an outstanding listening vocabulary. It’s the first time we’ve been able to hold her since I went to dentist two weeks ago, and now D will probably want another two weeks (sigh) for our sake, though we agree that dentist has outstandingly strong safeguards.
I’ll take what I can get!
I envy those of you who have seen your grandkids. I haven’t seen mine, in person, for 4 months.
2.5yo GD reminds me alot of her daddy. She’s already a food critic (“Daddy, this isn’t a very, very good breakfast. I don’t want this breakfast.”), told DIL “You ruined my hat” (I just imagined when it’ll be “you ruined my life”). She’s verbal and bright, like her daddy was, and, as a first born, expects alot of attention, like her daddy did. I think S now appreciates what it was like parenting him.
7mo GS is a smiley one. He’s changed so much since we saw him.
Regarding the seat, we use one like shown above and strap it to a patio chair, easy to hose off and clean. We have a covered deck so the chair lives out there and it brought inside when we eat in. I don’t worry about staining my ‘good’ chairs and it’s just easy to use.
I decided to get a regular high chair that folds up (sort of) so I can store it in the pantry when not in use. Because GS only lives 1.5 miles from me, he will not be here for meals that often. I usually babysit at his house. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money since it may get used only 5 or 6 times a year, but you get what you pay for. It definitely is not one I would buy if I were a new parent expecting years of daily use.
Saw GD for the first time in three months. She was SO excited! It was only 24 hours, but we had a wonderful time. She is very verbal, we can understand most of what she says. She was a little pickier about food, but loved the blueberry muffins I brought. She now wants to come to my house and help make them. I go back in 2 weeks for 2.5 days. S and DIL were happy to have a break, even short. She is now visiting the other grandma 2 days a week.
DH and his brother almost annually do “Boundary Waters” - between MN and Canada, which is canoeing in, camping and fishing (primitive camp sites) - they have other younger family members or friends going - BIL had a lot of the camping gear and canoes. So both my DDs have done boundary waters, but it is not my cup of tea, and also my health has not been optimal since having aggressive cancer in 2009 (my LAST medical oncology visit is July when I am 10 years cancer free). It turns out with baseball season delay, DD2’s BF had the time off (and it turns out his grandfather had been to boundary waters, so he wanted to do it as his only opportunity). Meanwhile DD1 wanted to bring both her children to see her grandmother, DH’s 91 YO mother, and her 91 YO grandfather (who is in skilled care, but we could do a window visit). DD1 and I were at grandparents house and doing a lot of care management with grandmother (she has a gem of a lady coming in to help her, but always more to be done), along with the meals and routine day to day with two babies. So I went as well to help with child care and to see everyone - also go to my home town 100 miles away for a day visit with DD1/kids, and visit another town on the way we wanted to go to. If DD1’s H was going on the trip, I would not have been needed, and probably would not have gone. 800 mile road trip each way from our house, and another 100 miles to DD1’s home. Key for me was more time with GKids, and also family time with DH having time with GKids. I prepared a few big meals including when DD2/BF and BIL were also at the house along with grandmother, DH, DD2 and kids. House has no dishwasher, so I always rinsed and stacked the dishes after meals (MIL wants to do things like the dishes, but one has to have them almost washed because her vision is not good due to delaying cataract surgery - she now has agreed to have it done but needs to wait until they will do elective surgeries). DH’s birthday was Saturday, so after the meal I announced that DD1 and DD2 were doing the dishes in honor of dad’s BD. Over the last 6 years or so, MIL has had enough dementia and loss of filters to treat me like a disliked servant that she just puts up with; however if she really wants something done she will ask me (like when she insisted on getting dressed but did not want to wait for DD1 to be available to help her). DD1 needed to clean her grandmother’s bathroom every day that the caretaker didn’t come in, etc - MIL needs diapers… DD1 is a nurse (as am I) so DD1 went along to her grandmother’s MD appt (dressings/skin tears on left leg, along with swelling - grandmother won’t wear compression stocking unless it is critical; she just isn’t compliant about a lot of things…). BIL manages a lot, including overseeing meds (he’s a pharmacist). DD1 and BIL had to re-explain taking neuropathy medication correctly…MIL only wants to take when she has horrible pain…
Key for DD1 was grandmother was in a lot better shape than she was 2 years ago (when grandfather was still at home and grandmother was extremely worn out). Grandmother enjoyed the great-grandkids immensely, watching them play, interacting with them. So that made it a good visit.
On high chair and booster seat, my sister had refinished a wonderful wood high chair that my mom had made a cute seat cushion for it. My sister used it for her two, I used it for DD1 and DD2, and now DD1 is using it for her older child. The baby, 11 months old can sit in it/use it now, but the toddler chair we had is too high for their very low dining table (it has a lower wood lip below the table so GD’s legs would not fit under the table in the toddler chair). I bought a nice booster chair with straps (similar to what restaurants have) but that also is too high. I think it would work because key is having GD strapped in, but DD1/SIL didn’t want it. So they can come up with their own.
Sometimes they (DD1/SIL) don’t want something and then they change their mind. They have done that with a few things. For example DH ordered a light for his dad, but it turns out it won’t work in his skilled care room - so it was still in the box (it is a pole light fixture that has the light on top - LED that give off a lot of light and adjusts to lower light too) - we bought the one that is in grandparents’ house. Well now DD1 wants it (now that she sees it in use and realizes they need the extra light in their living room/family room, so she got the box at our house this morning.
I just returned home from a 2 day visit to Nashville for D’s birthday and the real attraction, their 3 month only daughter. It was so nice to see the changes since I was last there on Mother’s Day weekend. Lots of smiles and babbling. We are all still in stay at home/ WFH mode, so it was relatively low risk. D will come off maternity leave on July 13th, but I think she will not be going to the office until sometime in August at the earliest.
I did succumb to a Trader Joe’s trip this morning as I left town. D had been last week and reported everyone masked, appropriate social distancing, etc. and I felt very safe being there during the senior hour. D has ducked into Publix twice in the last two weeks and I went our local small market last week on the 10th for some produce (first inside grocery trip since mid-March). I felt safer at TJ’s than my local small market at 8 am where I saw some employees back behind the deli without masks.
Grandmother time and a TJ’s visit - best 48 hours since starting lockdown on March 13th.
I also ventured to a TJ’s this week–my first time in a store since before times. And yes, it was very, very safe feeling. Nothing like the nightmare stories I have heard other places. I went during senior hour, store was mostly empty, no lines, everyone in masks, it was a highpoint of my week, along with some grandmother time! Does it really get any better than that?