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While my grandmother was busy keeping the house abluted with her cleaning after we'd distempered it with our vertiginous childishness, my grandfather dandled us on his knee, ineluctably working my grandmother into a swivet.

abluted: Thoroughly washed clean.
distemper: (dis-TEM-puhr) v. To throw out of order. DID YOU KNOW? If you “temper” something, you soften or dilute it by mixing in something else. You might, for example, temper wine with water or temper judgment with mercy. But what if you add the wrong thing and end up with a big mess? That’s the general idea behind “distemper,” which came to English in the 14th century from Late Latin distemperare, “to mix badly.” Nowadays, we often use the participial form “distempered” to refer to a mood that is affected by negative feelings. There’s also the noun “distemper,” which can mean “bad humor or temper” or “a serious virus disease of dogs.” Another noun “distemper” refers to a painting process in which pigments are mixed with glutinous substances like egg yolks or whites.
vertiginous (vuhr-TI-juh-nuhs) adj. 1. marked by, affected with, or tending to cause dizziness. 2. inclined to frequent and often pointless change; inconstant. 3. marked by turning.
dandle: 1. To move (a small child) up and down on the knees or in the arms in a playful way: “Somebody who was dandled on Queen Victoria's knee must appear an old fogy” (Edward, Duke of Windsor). 2. To pamper or pet.
ineluctable: Not to be avoided or escaped; inevitable: “Those war plans rested on a belief in the ineluctable superiority of the offense over the defense” (Jack Beatty).
swivet: (SWI-vuht) n. a state of extreme agitation.