Kicking It – Surviving a twin tsunami

Elizabeth Youngman-Westphal

Special to The Village News

A few weeks ago, my granddaughter Autumn flew down from the Sacramento area with her under-2 year old twin boys. It turned out to be a whirlwind visit.

Naturally, she was thoroughly prepared for this expedition. I thought I was too. After all, we did a thorough house cleaning from the floor up to our waists. Or so we thought. I’d forgotten how long a two-year-olds arms can be.

Apparently, someone at the car rental agency took pity on her because even though mommy only packed the minimum gear required to bring two-2-year-olds from home for two nights, it was enough to fill the biggest Ram truck bed I’ve seen. And, oh silly me, I’d forgotten how much laundry two little boys could create.

When we helped her unload the truck, we understood how she could be confused with a traveling circus. Besides her two squirmy boys, who might have identified as acrobats, Autumn had packed a double stroller, three giant suitcases, two backpacks, and goodness knows what was in the other bags.

I’ve seen troop deployments with less gear. Just the same, one of the roller bags held a tent (right, a tent) and two, I said two, high chairs!

Fortunately for us, Autumn had the good sense to bring her best friend Darcy along. Thinking back, Darcy deserved a reward because, as their self-appointed auntie, she too got to hold a wiggly 2-year on her lap for the 90-minute flight from hell. Surely, in reflection, they both must be wondering, “What were we thinking”?

Autumn grabbed this opportunity to scoot out of town with the boys because after the 4th of September their flying rates change when they turn 2. Or as Grayson says silently when he shoots both hands above his head in Nixon’s old victory sign. For Grayson, the word signifies action. Naturally, as one of my great-grandsons, he is really cute!

While I thought I’d baby proofed the house, according to their mom, (and when did she grow up to be such a knowing woman?) I did a semi-job. But who knew?

Furthermore, who knew the second twin, Levi, would develop an ongoing attachment to the hummingbird window decals? I’ve not seen VJ move as fast as he did over that weekend while trying to shoo Levi away.

Even so, Levi was faster! Catching him before his little fingers made the glass slider was like trying to catch a bouncing ping-pong ball.

Oh, and they both go boing. You know when someone can go from standing flat-on two feet to rocketing in-place-into-mid-air? Without forewarning. Just boing! Straight up. It’s hilarious.

Even funnier when they put it in motion and boing across the room like kangaroos.

Just like in days of yore when we visited our grandparents, we, too, made pallets for them out of folded quilts.

And wouldn’t ya know, their first night here was a bit chaotic. It started when, just as Autumn got them settled, on que, Grayson’s little tummy exploded! Naturally it projected across the freshly washed bedding.

That put papa into full-recovery mode. Extracting the soiled bedding from mommy to push into the washing machine as mommy comforted our little dude. Awe, poor little guy. Grayson not VJ.

In reflection, their visit was like surviving a tsunami. They crashed in, landed on everything, and then went away leaving nothing but eerie quiet in their wake.

It was a reminder of His omnipotent omnipotence and why mothers are young.

Elizabeth can be reached at [email protected].