Rewind: Telling Gramma K

So I realized in all of my early posts about surprising family members with our pregnancy that I forgot to tell one of my faves: telling Gramma K. Flashing back to the first trimester (MAN DOES THAT FEEL LIKE FOREVER AGO!)

Playing scrabble was one of our favorite pastimes with Gramma K.  My [middle] brother and I always used to look forward to school nights when she could come over and play Scrabble. Unfortunately, life has gotten busy since becoming an "adult" and we don't get to play nearly as often as we would like (i.e. at all). So setting up a night to play just seemed too perfect to not be a cute way to tell her.

Before the game, we were eating dinner and my dad had a major slip. He was discussing his concern over the dogs possibly picking up avocados off the ground that had been bitten by squirrels, especially now that I'm pregnant.  I gave The Glare. His eyes widened with a "Fuuuudgeee" reaction (ya know, the one from A Christmas Story).  Luckily, Gramma just hadn't been tuned into the conversation even though she was in the same room so it just slid right passed her.

After bringing up the marvelous idea to play a game of Scrabble, we had to make it seem normal.  I say this because Kevin isn't much of a Scrabble player. Likely because my family is pretty darn good. Instead of losing, why not just refuse to play instead?? [Insert Kevin's rebuttal here]. So we were actually concerned that him wanting to play may tip Gramma K off. But since my brother and I affirm that Gramma K likes to 'set up' the player that goes immediately after her in Scrabble, this game we said we would agree to letting Kevin have that coveted position and that he was allowed to go first. Another flag diverted by treating Kevin like a child. Haha!

This all worked into our scheme, as my mom, Kevin, and I had already pulled the letters we needed to make this happen earlier in the day. Luckily Gramma needed a restroom break before the game began, so it just looked like we pulled our letters while she stepped away.

Kevin: W-H-E-R-E

Mom: H-A-V-I-N-G

Me: A B-A-B-Y

Gramma's turn

This was the most logical sequence we could think of, so that HAVING could link to a letter in WERE in some way (so we needed to add the H).

I was surprised Gramma didn't take second notice that my dad was hanging around, saying he had to witness this epic game of Scrabble (because Dad hates playing too!).

Kevin played WHERE, 30 points.  Off to a nice start.
Mom played HAVING 26 points.

Then I got a bit nervous. My turn!

In order to get A BABY to stand out and to get Gramma to stop to think about it, I placed the letters away from HAVING and separated.  I hadn't thought about the placement on the board, because as soon as I put them down and told Gramma to read it aloud, she read, verbatim:

"A, double letter score, baby"

Yes, she read aloud the letter score spot that fell between A and BABY. HAHA.

It then took my mom and I and a bit of encouragement to read Kevin's word, mom's word, then mine. There were a few tries before you saw it hit her. She read it aloud and had the exact same reaction I told Kevin she would have earlier that day.  A loud shrill followed by tears.

Luckily in the weeks prior Gramma had not recognized any of the times I opted out of wine or swapped Sparkling Apple Cider (pictured in my discrete dark wine glass).

I was so happy it worked out the way it did, and we were able to talk Kevin into playing a real game with us after this (which, no need to brag, I DOMINATED).

This picture includes my dad and the Father's Day gift bottle of wine and "tag" that we surprised them with weeks earlier (you can read how I told them here).

It was a great night, a great way to surprise, and of course, a great game of Scrabble.