Watching the Pot

Second guessing the arrival of a baby is tricky. When my daughters have their children far from the old homestead, it means scheduling a flight based on number of weeks gestation. So for the second (third?) time, I am having a wonderful visit with a very pregnant daughter, counting her overdue days.
I am not complaining -- much. Although my return date is set, I'm still able to play with a grandson and I find ways to be useful. After all, being more than nine months pregnant has its challenges too. After I leave, my daughter's mother-in-law will come for a week or so. One of her sisters will follow that visit, so I will assume that she will have what help she needs.
So if I'm not on hand to soften the post-baby blues, at least I can do some of the standing at the sink, running errands about town, or entertaining and chasing "Bean", older brother to the anticipated baby daughter.
Today, for example, we went to the swimming pool. Bean showed me his best tricks and we had a great time splashing around.
When I arrived, I gave Bean his belated birthday present--a jigsaw puzzle picturing items in our solar system. I knew that he liked rockets and hoped that he would like it. Each day that I have been here we have put the puzzle together, with the help and encouragement of a white bunny hand puppet I keep in my bag. After the puzzle is complete, the bunny gives Bean a small plastic space-related figure: an astronaut, a moon rover, a rocket (he correctly identified it as a Saturn 5), and today a satellite. I think I have just enough of the 1-2 inch figures to last about another week.
My husband's brother lives nearby and I knew I would have a chance to visit him and his family. It was made easier because the children of my brother-in-law organized a 50th birthday party for him this past Saturday evening. When the invitations went out, we weren't sure we would be able to attend Uncle T's birthday party but since the baby was still in hiding, we joined in that celebration. The only stressful part was trying to remember, or pretending to remember, the names of people I hadn't seen in ten or more years.
Every day, we talk about going to the hospital in labor but the doctor reports that Thursday will probably be the earliest -- a full week after I arrived here. I try not to focus on the baby that is not here. While I do know that the baby must eventually come, today it feels like "the watched pot never boils."