Over the River...

..and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go. Great Grandma's house that is- finally after a long hiatus. An unintentionally long stretch between visits ended this past Saturday. It is just so hard to do the trip with both girls, especially since Annika had been so fiesty.
It was so sweet to watch Great Grandma with Annika. Annika really studied her face and didn't smile much at first. Gma's face would light up as she baby talked some words and phrases. Annika would watch her and blink. During lunch Annika became a bit more animated and smiled back. Annika loved the swedish meatballs and over done green beans. Even though she "flat lined" on the growth chart, you wouldn't guess it by watching her eat. That girl can chow down!
 Gma had given both girls a stuffed toy- the stuffed animal is a token Grandma gift. My collection was quite large by the time I reached the "too-old-for-toys" age. Grandma used to tell me how Grandpa would say, why are you getting another sruffed animal? And Grandma would say because they are so cute and cuddly. So now Annika has a large blue bunny with sewn on patches to make it appear a little whimsical.  Emma got the annual noisy bunny. It shakes and moves while playing a hoppy song. The one she got from Gma last year (or the year before) is a favorite. Emma also received a Disney Princess art set- activity book, cardboard scene to color, puzzle and crayons. Emma and Gma had some puzzle time after lunch. It was cute watching Gma get all impressed when Emma found a piece.
We hit the road pretty early since both girls had missed their naps. The first 30 minutes or so in the car were a nightmare!  Emma was having tantrums for dropping her art set, losing markers, losing puzzle pieces. "When are we going to go back to Great Grandma's?" Huge sobs and screams. The back of Steve's seat was being pushed. The tears were rolling and her face was beet red.  She couldn't manage a polite request for picking up the dropped items, which added to the stress. After talking things through (multiple times and getting to the point of threats and promises of rewards (so bad!!)), she finally chokes out a strangled "please help me Mommy" and I turned around to help her collect whatever item she just had to have right that second. We started to drive under an overpass and the van got darker and darker. "What is happening to us!!" Emma sobs and screams. It was so funny. I had been wondering the same thing since the overpass was not very wide. It didn't make sense that we should not able to see the floor of the van or our groping hands. What happened to us indeed.
Eventually Emma calmed down. That was just when Annika decided to scream. The Nuk didn't help so we just had to wait it out. She fell asleep after awhile, followed closely by Emma.
Whew. In the middle of Emma's tantrums Steve asked her to "Ask us again, Emma, when we are going to go back to Great Grandma's."  She made us tell her why and of course she didn't like the answer- not for a long time because we don't want to go through that again.