It stinks to have my parents so far away from us, but let me
tell you…the boys have a relationship with their grandparents that they would
not have, thanks to video chatting on Skype. We talk to my parents and see them
online at least three times each week. The boys gaze at Mom and Dad’s ceiling
fan. They pretend to play with the dog and cat. We’ve been out to see the
garden and the sprouting lawn at my parents’ house. Mom and Dad hang out on my
laptop on our balcony with us, see the boys play outside and inside, jumping on
their beds and running around in their diapers before bed.
I lived a long way from my dad’s parents growing up and they
were always great about talking to each of us kids once every week when they’d
call, and it was special, but I did not know them the way my kids know my
parents. When Mom and Dad came to visit in the fall, the boys didn’t skip a
beat. They knew exactly who they were, what they look like, what they like to
do and eat and wear. What a different world!
My mom’s birthday was Tuesday, and we called her in the
morning on Skype to sing her happy birthday. We did and she loved it. The boys
decided they needed to make her a birthday cake. I agreed and then spent the
next few hours dedicated to this cake. Of course I didn’t have a cake mix on
hand, so it took much longer than it needed to. At times it was fun, at times I
wanted to throw eggs at them. They wanted to be in on every tiny step in the
process. They weren’t even afraid of the mixer. They kept repeating, “Grandma’s
too far away, but we will eat the cake for her to celebrate her.” Celebrate is a new word for them, as is ingredients, after this venture.
So we
baked her a cake. It came out extremely tall,
so we ate chunks off it to “level it out,” and planned to have a real piece
later after dinner. I thought I’d make frosting eventually, but I didn’t. The
boys didn’t notice. Mom had gone out to eat that evening and was thus un-Skyepable.
We had a piece of cake and took a video for her. I never got around to emailing
the video, and then the next day after lunch we called her and ate another
piece, sang to her, and the boys blew out the candles again. Awesome.
I love and highly recommend Skype, or some other form of
video chatting to make and maintain relationships that you wouldn’t normally
have beyond a once or twice a year visit or once a month phone call. Also, keep
cake mixes on hand.
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Yay! Mom agreed to let us stir hot melting chocolate! |
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They kept talking to the "chicks" which was disturbing. |
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"I'll do it! I'll do it! By myself!" |
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Ta-da! |
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Waiting... |
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After candles and singing on video |
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Skype candle-blowing with Baby Alex too! |
The chicks. Hilarious.
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