I’m learning more and more about this whole grandparenting thing. Every time I see my three little kiddos, I discover something that I hadn’t known before.

We picked up the two oldest grandchildren last weekend. Their mom and dad needed a little down time. They got some much needed rest and time with the new baby, and we had fun with the other two.

This visit, two things were made very clear to me. No. 1 – three- and five-year-old children run very fast and have boundless energy. No. 2 – I need some work understanding toddler-speak.

Every so often, Eric would say, “I’m handy, I’m handy.

I would look at Larry and ask if he knew what was being said. Neither one of us could figure it out for a while. Then we had an “aha moment.” He was saying “I’m hungry.”

The kids love to have Papa read to them and he did plenty of that last weekend. I think Larry enjoys just as much as the kiddos do because he gets to use his repertoire of voices. I think he should have been a voice actor because he really does have a good ear for characters and dialects.

The kids really enjoyed listening to “Hop on Pop” by Dr. Seuss. Eric even decided it would be fun to trying hopping on Papa’s lap. That quickly turned into a tickle fest with grandpa and the kids sprawled on the living room floor.

Little Miss Ariel, 5, is quite the junior fashionista. She took great care and pride in selecting her outfits for the day and even matched the ponytail band to the color of her blouse.

We took a little trip into Fort Dodge and decided to stop at Oleson Park to let the kids play. They had a great time running around.

We weren’t there long when another young man joined in the play time. This little guy, who was there with his father, was dressed in a full Batman costume, complete with a full rubber mask. He kept posing with his hands on his hips and in a very husky voice, he’d say, “I’m Batman.” He couldn’t have been much older than 5 or 6, but he had swagger. He chased my two little kiddos around the playground singing, “Nananananananana, Batman” – ala the old TV series theme song.

Larry and I could hardly contain ourselves. Ariel and Eric giggled and laughed and the slept extremely well that night, to be sure.

When we climbed into the car to go home, Batman stood at the edge of the playground and watched. It’s good to know that Oleson Park was truly safe that day under Batman’s watchful eye.