{"id":1078,"date":"2012-11-14T14:08:45","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T20:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=1078"},"modified":"2012-11-15T22:05:16","modified_gmt":"2012-11-16T04:05:16","slug":"broom-hockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=1078","title":{"rendered":"Broom Hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>So in addition to being on the road for the past months, I have had my daughter, her husband and her two boys, now ages twoish and 5 months, living with me. They have moved back home after a stint in Los Angeles where their boys were born. \u00a0I think they found, as we all did who experienced it, that child number two is an exponential increase in activity\/responsibility (i. e. work!) \u00a0and the man to man defense becomes a full court press leaving you\u00a0screaming\u00a0for more adults on your team.<\/p>\n

Moving in with YaYa and Pops, as my husband and I are affectionately called, until they can find their own home has been a joy and a\u00a0challenge\u00a0for all of us. \u00a0Living in a multi-generational home is pretty standard in most cultures but in the United States, not so much. Here when you make the transition from “You’re so young, I can’t believe you are grandparents” to “move your walker, I can’t see the TV,” we elderly ones are ferried off to old folks homes with the polite,\u00a0obligatory\u00a0visit on Sundays. Seldom do you end up in a child’s spare room.<\/p>\n

So my situation is a good one. \u00a0They are the squatters and I can decide when my hotel has no vacancy which I anticipated would occur at about a week to ten days of our\u00a0cohabitation.<\/p>\n

But I had not\u00a0anticipated\u00a0one aspect of my new living\u00a0situation. \u00a0Falling madly, unabashedly, completely in love with my grandsons. \u00a0Like young love, all your boundaries, rules, previous relationships are overshadowed and pushed to the side when you open your front door and a small voice calls “YaYa!!!!” and you are immediately enveloped by knee high hugs and kisses and an adoring, unbearable sweet grin facing up in wild anticipation of your next move.<\/p>\n

I was not an\u00a0especially stellar infant\/ toddler mom. \u00a0I am not an early morning person. \u00a0I don’t like sitting on the floor to do any thing much less count matchbox cars. \u00a0Sesame Street I found to be a life saver but sort of stupid. \u00a0I mean really. Why didn’t Big Bird have a name? \u00a0Everyone else did?\u00a0They\u00a0didn’t call Snuffy “Large Elephant.”<\/p>\n

No, I basically had toddlers to enjoy\u00a0teenagers. \u00a0I adore kids\u00a0just\u00a0when everyone else wants to give them away.<\/p>\n

So this transition to really, really loving a day spent with a two year old has been a brave new world for me. \u00a0I broke all my original rules for child rearing in the first two days. I sneak my grandson cookies, we play silly games like “where is Mr. McGillicutty?” while driving in the car. \u00a0I don’t even know who Mr. McGillicutty is or where he came from in the recesses of my feeble brain but we look for him all the time. (Just googled it. \u00a0Should have known it was an I Love Lucy<\/em> phrase.) I drive carpool for nursery school. \u00a0I buy pizzas by the carton to support it.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the most recent crack in my usually impermeable veneer, was the\u00a0introduction\u00a0of the sport of hockey to my grandson, Charlie. We live in the cold midwest where hockey is religion but when my own son cried though his first skating lesson I shed tears of joy that I would never have a 5AM ice time practice or a 7AM game in Timbucktu.<\/p>\n

Not so with precious Charlie. \u00a0The moment he showed interest in scooting a plastic lemon slice across the kitchen floor\u00a0with\u00a0a spatula, I was calling the ice rink to see how early he could start lessons. \u00a0Hearing sadly they began at age 3, I settled for\u00a0asking\u00a0about their next Pee Wee practice (the gifted 11\/12 year-olds headed for the NHL). \u00a0The next day at 5:30 PM sharp we were there for the big event. \u00a0We arrived\u00a0just\u00a0in time for the Zamboni man, sweeping the rink to a\u00a0crystalline\u00a0shine to which my California born surfer child, who had never seen ice exclaimed, “Wow, YaYa!”<\/p>\n

And it was all uphill from there. \u00a0The players arrived in their full padded glory–skates, helmets, mouthguards–wisking the\u00a0magic\u00a0black pucks back and forth into the nets.<\/p>\n

Charlie stood\u00a0transfixed\u00a0with\u00a0his tiny pink nose pressed against the glass, his fingers tapping gently against the barrier. His\u00a0smile, ear to ear.<\/p>\n

Now we have a new game we play in the hall each morning, broom hockey. \u00a0The puck is whatever he finds to use and the\u00a0rules\u00a0are\u00a0whatever\u00a0he chooses. My brooms are turning to hay and white paint chips are falling off all my baseboards. I’m sometimes still in my goalie PJ’s at noon.<\/p>\n

Come on, he had me at “Wow, YaYa!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So in addition to being on the road for the past months, I have had my daughter, her husband and her two boys, now ages twoish and 5 months, living with me. They have moved back home after a stint in Los Angeles where their boys were born. \u00a0I think they found, as we all …<\/p>\n

>>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBroom Hockey - askmsmom.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=1078\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Broom Hockey - askmsmom.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So in addition to being on the road for the past months, I have had my daughter, her husband and her two boys, now ages twoish and 5 months, living with me. They have moved back home after a stint in Los Angeles where their boys were born. \u00a0I think they found, as we all ...>>Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=1078\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"askmsmom.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-14T20:08:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-16T04:05:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/broom-hockey-11-200x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5031095d2f9410eb51dc2762789e1945\"},\"headline\":\"Broom Hockey\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-14T20:08:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-16T04:05:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078\"},\"wordCount\":796,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/11\\\/broom-hockey-11-200x300.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078\",\"name\":\"Broom Hockey - askmsmom.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/11\\\/broom-hockey-11-200x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-14T20:08:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-16T04:05:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5031095d2f9410eb51dc2762789e1945\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/11\\\/broom-hockey-11.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/11\\\/broom-hockey-11.jpg\",\"width\":\"320\",\"height\":\"480\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1078#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Broom Hockey\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"askmsmom.com\",\"description\":\"Life, love and are my bangs too short?\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5031095d2f9410eb51dc2762789e1945\",\"name\":\"Nan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ae12cbc15ee3f533cce273153c9bccbb9c7c73d1afe507843072dd50b62c82ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ae12cbc15ee3f533cce273153c9bccbb9c7c73d1afe507843072dd50b62c82ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ae12cbc15ee3f533cce273153c9bccbb9c7c73d1afe507843072dd50b62c82ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nan\"},\"description\":\"I am a writer, counselor, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. 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