When Abby's Away, Tessa Will.... Play??

Abby had the privilege of spending 4 days with my parents last week, a tradition they started last summer. However, this year Tessa was too young to go, but old enough to realize she was being left behind. So instead of feeling like I had extra time and more quiet with one less child, I spent the majority of the days trying to find things to entertain my 2-year-old. You'll see why I felt this way after you read the following:

So my parents came to pick up Abby and while we were getting everything ready, Tessa saw Abby's pillow downstairs, so she immediately said "my pillow" and ran upstairs and brought down her own pillow and blanky to have it ready. And then later when my dad was moving Abby's carseat from our van to his car, Tessa came inside all upset because Grandpa wouldn't take out her carseat too. I had been trying to avoid these scenarios because the past couple weeks whenever Abby mentioned going to Grandma's she always had to include, "and you're staying home, Tessa" which only made Tessa cry, scream, and/or get upset, so I was afraid of these problems. So wouldn't you have done what you could to make it all better?!? Well, I tried. We bought her snacks like string cheese and fruit snacks (her personal favorite) to have in the house. And I tried to come up with fun things to do so I french-braided her hair (this was a first). We painted our nails, and watched lots of movies. Her movie of choice was "the elephant show" (Horton Hears a Who). We got to go to Tyler's office and out to dinner one night. And probably her favorite thing, she got to sleep in Mom and Dad's room each night. (I just couldn't see putting her to bed upstairs all by herself.)

I don't think she minded too much once Abby was gone, however with her playmate gone, she was always begging me to play with her. It was a bit hard at first when I thought I'd have more time to do my stuff like read or relax, but that's okay, I really did enjoy the one-on-one time we were able to spend together. I know she still missed Abby though because when we drove out to pick her up, Tessa was so excited as soon as she saw Abby coming out of my parents' house, it was so cute.

And don't worry, the adventure was well worth it. Abby had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. She got to swim a lot, go to Chuck E. Cheese (her favorite thing to do when visiting Grandma and Grandpa), play with her cousin, eat out A LOT, hold and feed her new week-old baby girl cousin, and basically just follow Grandma and Grandpa around all day.

We're definitely looking forward to next year when both girls get to go. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the fun memories!