In The Waiting Room

After having such a great time with Aria on Sunday, I had the opportunity to spend even more time with her the next day.

On Monday morning Brandi had a dentist appointment in Bowling Green. Because James was working she needed someone to stay in the waiting room and watch Aria during her appointment.

This was going to be a first for me, at least with my granddaughter. I have watched Aria by myself at her house and at mine but never out in public before.

I met the two of them at the dentist office, which is on one of the busiest roads in Bowling Green. It’s across the street from a major shopping center.

About 10 minutes after I got there, Brandi was called back into the exam room. I distracted Aria for the first few minutes by letting her watch “Clifford The Big Red Dog” cartoons on my smartphone, while sitting on the waiting room couch.  

Soon she realized that her mom was gone and she was not happy about it. I tried to distract her but couldn't find anything in her diaper bag to do it. So I attempted to get her to smile for a selfie of the two of us. As you can see from this picture, she was not into that at all.

After the photo opp attempt my granddaughter got down off the couch and walked over to the door she knew that her mom had gone through. That’s when she started crying. I gave her my best sympathetic response and got her to come back over to me. I picked her up and let her cry on my shoulder. I patted her back and soon calmed her down. She was only upset for less than a minute. 

 The office clerk changed the TV station to The Disney Channel. The show “Little Einsteins” was on. This entertained Aria for about 5 minutes. Then she ready for something else. 

In a bit of, what I thought was, quick thinking we went out to my car and got the bag of Mr. Potato Head toys. I had taken them to work for the kids to play with a month ago and they were still there.

Initially, my baby girl was fascinated by the new toys her Paw Paw had. But she grew tired of them after a few minutes. I don't think she grasped the idea of putting the pieces together to make an anamorphic plastic potato character. The most fun she had with the arms, legs, mouths, hats and feet for the Potato Heads was putting them back into the bag. 

Out of things to do there in the office it was time to take advantage of the nice weather outside. 

With her hand firmly held in min Aria went out the door and to the right to the little island at the side of the building. It was more a landscape area than a play area. But for a few minutes Aria liked feeling the grass and walking around the trunks of the small trees. 

Seeing that she wanted to move around, I took my granddaughter's hand, again, and we strolled down the sidewalk.We walked for about half a block and then turned the corner.  

Now Aria was very happy walking and holding on to her Papa's hand. The problem was me. As I mentioned the road we were walking along was very busy. I was so nervous that Aria would get away from me in that environment that we only walked up and down the half block once. 

Once we went back into the office I knew I was only going to have to play with Aria for a few more minutes. I went to a game we had played at my house just the day before. 

I got some change out of my pocket and we played with the half a dozen coins for the next 10 minutes. We stacked them and knocked them down. 

At one point in our game Aria put the coins on the seat of one of the chairs and sat on them, hiding them from me. 

When I asked her where they were she playfully teased me by ignoring me and pretending to be watching TV. 

Eventually she decided to "come clean" and she showed me that she did indeed have the coins. But I think by the time I took this picture she was actually interested in what was on TV. 

It was at this point that Brandi came through the door and Aria got down and happily ran to her. For Aria Nicole all was right with the world again. 

We said "good-bye" at the office and I headed home. 

It had been a long time since I'd had to entertain a child in a public setting but I think I pulled it off. I know Aria will never remember the hour we spent together. But I know she loves being with and playing with her Papa. For me it was time with my granddaughter and that is always a precious memory and time well spent.