How do you not laugh?

My daughters were not supposed to tell their mother "no!" Not that they always did what they were told.... But for the most part, they were pretty good about only showing their utter and total contempt for my rule behind my back! Not so for my grandson. He is a perfect gentlemen for most of the time. Sweet and utterly adorable. But when it comes to standing two inches from the television screen, we get out the boxing gloves.

Last night my daughter and son-in-law went to a birthday party sans their two-year-old. I couldn't blame them for wanting a little time that didn't include running after him. After all, with me living in another state, these times are not always easy to come by. The other grandparents are great, but they live across town, which means scheduling way ahead. No last minute drop offs. Needless to say, when I come to town, they take full advantage of Grammy being right in the house.

Which brings me to last night. We had a wonderful night and had just drawn our first line in the sand over the television - me telling him to back off from the screen a little bit - him very firmly telling me "no, his toons!" Forcing me  to use the clicker to shut off the television. Him turning it back on ... me asking him to back up ... him saying no! ... Well, you get the picture. When his parents came home, there we were - me with the clicker, him with his eyebrows knitted, two inches from screen. The problem was keeping myself from laughing. He was so darn cute! He had absolutely no idea how tiny and vulnerable he was!

Now why couldn't they have arrived home while he was telling me how much he loved my noodles with butter and parmesan, and that he "missed" me (his version of showing how happy he was with his dinner)? Or when he woke up all sweet and warm, giving me a big hug? Oh no, it had to be knitted brows, line in the sand time....