Love, Darcy | Baby Einstein -1, Nana – 0

Lately, I don’t need much of an excuse to fly to Dallas, but recently on a weekend, I actually had a good reason to be there. Tim was in Nashville and would be meeting me there in a few days to continue on to see some wonderful folks in San Angelo. So I arrived in big D a few days early to spend some prime time spoiling our one year old grandson (this is an earned privilege). Very quickly I discerned that his parents needed a little R&R. Realizing that this was a chance for me to have the baby all to myself, I encouraged them to take off for a few days. To go on a little anniversary trip and try to remember what it was like to be just husband and wife. To lay aside their other monikers of Mom, Dad, pastor, pastor’s wife, seminary student and blogger. It took them all of about 20 minutes to pack a suitcase, wave good-bye and head to their favorite Texas town, Austin. A place full of memories for them (falling in love, proposal, wedding, first apartment, first dog). Need I say more? A very special place. But before they made their escape, I did what any responsible caregiver would do. I wrote down the baby’s napping and eating schedule. I had them sign an emergency medical release and give me directions to the nearest hospital. I also got instructions on the care of the dog, the mail and the yard watering. So far no problem. Then, thinking that it might be a good idea to know how to turn on the TV, I asked my son to show me how to work the TV. I think it was on the third remote control that my eyes started to glaze over. I mean, Really?! Is there some sort of social status that comes with the number of remotes on your coffee table? Finally, I got a sheet of paper and began writing the instructions down regarding the tutorial of the TV/cable/DVD/NetFlix/WiFi/coffeemaker. I was going to need some serious caffeine if I was going to survive this technological jungle. So late the next afternoon, during the hour I call the twilight zone, when dinner needs to be made but babies need to be held, I decided to rely on Baby Einstein for 10 minutes of dinner prep time. Obviously it was not going to be gourmet fare, but no one was going to starve. Taking a deep breath and cracking my knuckles, I gathered all four remotes, my cheat sheet and my glasses. (I’m glad you weren’t there. It was humiliating enough without your chuckles.). I succeeded in getting the TV on, the Dish Network off, the DVD channel up and while I was figuring out which button to push on the third remote to start the DVD, our 12 month old grandson reached up, pulled the cover off the DVD player, pushed a button and, quicker than you can say 4 brown monkeys, Baby Einstein started to play. Quite pleased with himself, this little whiz kid backed up and sat down on the carpet, completely enraptured with the parade of colorful objects and music. I, on the other hand, just about fell off of the couch. Here I was, decades older than this little guy, and he beat me to the punch. My own mini geek squad to the rescue! If they ever come up with a game show called Are You Smarter than a One Year Old, I’ll pass. Up until this incident, I really thought I was doing my best to keep up with technology. I know what a QR code is and I know that social networking is now called social sharing. But remote controls (4 of them in this case!) still baffle me. It looks like I’m going to have to get serious about working on my remote control blind spot. After all, I don’t want to be a complete embarrassment to my grandson when he turns two! Here’s to techie babies and universal remotes, Love Darcy