I visited my son Kevin, his wife Nicole, and their 3 year old daughter Autumn.  Autumn is my only grandchild.  She's a cutie pie with a boundless amount of energy.

Here are links to videos followed by a few pictures and stories:

	Kidcity children's museum in Middletown, Connecticut
	Autumn + me ("Grandpa Ken") on one of her two backyard trampolines.
	Autumn's grandmother Carolyn (mom of Autumn's mom), Cousin Claire (one month old), and Autumn

Interesting tidbits from my stay:

Autumn is a handful!  She's constantly shifting gears and exploring new things.  That's great, but it's exhausting for her parents and any other caregivers.  After just a few hours, I was looking forward to going back to my quiet existence in North Carolina.

Autumn has way too many toys.  Of those, at least a hundred must be dolls.  I told my son that most should be boxed up to make it easier for her and her parents to avoid clutter and repeated needs for cleanup. 

Amusing incident #1:  In a sweet moment, Autumn held one of her dolls in a very loving fashion ... like it was it was her own baby ... but then her mom or dad said something that ignited her wrath, and Autumn threw the doll at them like it was tomahawk.  LOL 

Amusing incident #2:  On my last full day, Autumn developed a urinary tract infection that necessitated a doctor's visit and a prescription for some liquid antibiotic.  Autumn frustrated her mom by refusing to take a dose of the antibiotic.  Her mom mixed it with milk, but Autumn still refused it.  I intervened by using some reverse psychology.  I told Autumn, "Don't drink it!"  Autumn lit up with a big smile, laughed, and then drank some of the milk.  I lectured Autumn, "I told you not to drink it!  Don't drink any more!"  Autumn responded with more laughing and another sip of the milk.  This continued until the milk had been finished.  I used this ploy when her dad (my son) was age 2.  He wouldn't eat a meatloaf I had cooked for him.  I got him to eat the whole meatloaf by repeatedly telling him not to eat it. 

Later I told Nicole (Autumn's mom) that Autumn had inherited my son's "gullibility gene".  LOL

Autumn watches a lot of Netflix children's movies like "Princess Sofia".  I suggested to Kevin and Nicole that they enable "closed captioning" so that Autumn could see the written version of the words that were spoken.  They did.  It'll be interesting to see if Autumn learns to read as a result.  A friend of mine's children turned into scholastic superstars by watching Jeopardy in their formative years.  Jeopardy is a form of closed captioning because the clue is displaced in word form.  A neighbor's kids likewise benefited by watching Wheel of Fortune. 

Autumn's spoken vocabulary is growing at a seemingly exponential rate.  At one point she told me I was "annoying".  LOL

I likely will visit again this year, but first I need a lot of rest to recover from my May visit.  It's tough work looking after a 3 year old!