In loco parentis

The ProdigalD and family arrived late on Thursday. And when I say late, I mean late. M & I were about to go to bed as it was midnight. The car arrived and they started unloading their stuff, and finally, a very sleepy six year old. However, she had slept in the car, and I vaguely remember doing similar things, on rare occasions, when our two were very young.

We were in charge the next day, as PD & Spouse had a meeting to go to. Unfortunately, M too had to go out - to a funeral. So GD2 and I were left on our own. But we had lots of chats, and played Ludo, and Snakes and Ladders too.

The family were around on Saturday, but early this morning PD & S went off to Brussels on a business trip. GD2 and I discussed fairies, as it appears she is a great fan of them, and every night says, 'I believe in fairies,' in the hope that one will be brought back to life. It is just as well that GD3, who is more of sceptic, was not around to disillusion her, particularly about the Tooth Fairy, who had visited on Thursday night, after her arrival. GD2, despite being very articulate and grownup in her vocabulary and speech, is nevertheless rather an innocent. But as we all know, the innocence of children lasts a very short time these days, so let's enjoy it while we can.

At last the weather has brightened up a bit, and GD2 went to the 'Pooh Bridge' nearby, to throw sticks in the water and watch them emerge from the other side of the bridge. In the afternoon, we all went to the local 'Soft Play Area'. We took GD2 there when she stayed with us a couple of years ago, and she was very hesitant about climbing up things and needed to return to us several times to boost her confidence before joining in. Now there's a big change and as soon as she arrived, she rushed in, climbed up, slid down the big slide, collected coloured balls etc, etc. and repeated all these activities for the next hour and a half. We had difficulty in getting her to depart, even though it was closing time; she wanted to find all the children she had befriended while she was there and say goodbye to them. She is an expert in procrastination - as I found out at bed-time too. Tomorrow, we have a friend coming (mine) with an equivalent granddaughter. They played together before, and like each other's company, so it should go well.

In the meantime, a brief visit to the computer is quite a respite. But I doubt if I'll be back until GD2 departs - on Tuesday.