THURSDAY 27 SEPTEMBER     BENDIGO

Grandson was knocking on the van door at 7.30am. He’d been up, had his breakfast, and mum was about to leave for work, so it was over to us. The boy was happy to snuggle up in bed with us for a little while, but then we had to stir ourselves to face the day.

I had forgotten how much energy it takes to keep up with an active and enthusiastic four-year-old! We had to come up with some ideas to keep him busy and interested – and that we could cope with.

Grandson just loved travelling around in the “Grandad’s Truck”. I guess to someone his size it looked huge! For the two someones of our size, it was an intellectual challenge to fit the boy’s car seat into Truck. I could not believe how much of a hassle it was. When my kids were little, one did not need an advanced qualification in engineering to take them to the shops!

We visited a shopping centre and walked around for a while looking at shops. The boy and Grandad scored icecreams each. We tried a visit to the Art Gallery – thought we might introduce some different aesthetics into his life, since he was an enthusiastic generator of art works that graced our fridge, my study walls and his fridge at home. But it was not really his thing – fair enough.

The walk in Rosalind Park, and the climb up to the top of the big poppet head tower, was much more to his liking. We valiantly battled up the several flights of steps – that thing is high! I appreciated the views over the city, but all grandson was interested in, was going back down again! We probably could have amused him by repeated trips up and down the Tower, but we were not up to it, although I am sure he would have been.

The playground at Lake Weeroona was definitely to his liking – and ours, because all we had to do was watch him – one at a time, whilst the other sat it out……

Fortunately, the afternoon nap still happened for the four year old. Grandad needed one too!

Throughout the trip, I had regularly dispatched postcards to the boy. After his nap, out came the collection, all faithfully kept, and we had to tell him the story of each one, and read them to him afresh. Obviously it had been worth making the effort to send them.

I, for one, was very happy to welcome his mum home from work, and hand over duty to her!