I have been babysitting since I was 12 years old. In fact, my best friend and I had a "Neighborhood Kids Carnival" on our deck when we were about 12, and collected money for Children's Hospital. All $41 that we collected went to dramatic research that I am sure helped in a break through for some horrible disease. They even threw us a party for our efforts (and I bet they used that $41 for the cake and ice cream!!)
The point of this blog is that I have always loved being around kids. I just think they are hilarious and always have a fresh perspective on life. I recently starting babysitting for the kids whose mom I met at my previous job. They are adorable little tow heads who are 2 years old and 9 months. The 2 year old turns 3 July 5, and the family is going to Disney World for her birthday. I walked into the house and it looked like Disney World had come to them. The little girl was running around with 3 or 4 balloons clipped to her dress. The best part was that every time one of the balloons touched the ceiling, it started singing "Happy Birthday!" The mom told me that the ballon was going to "accidentally" meet its demise that evening. There was also a princess dress sitting on the floor. The family is going to have a birthday breakfast at the castle, and the little girl will be wearing her princess dress.
I was keeping the kids for a few hours while their mom ran some errands. She suggested that I take them to the park in the stroller and let them play in this humongous sprinkler. Once we got the kids changed into their bathing suits and in the stroller, we headed for the park. I had already run 6.5 miles that morning, but didn't realize how difficult it is to push 2 children up and down hills in 90 degree weather. My hair was quickly up in a ponytail.
Once we got to the park, I couldn't figure out where the sprinkler was. The three year old kept telling me that we were headed the wrong way, and that I was supposed to stay on the sidewalk at all times. (Oops.) My favorite part of the day is when I asked "Guys, do you think we are going the right way?" The little girl replied, "Miss Jenny. We say y'all. We do NOT say 'guys!" Hilarious.
We finally got to the sprinkler and I realized that I was not dressed for the occassion. My new shirt from the Limited and khaki shorts were soaked and filthy in a matter of seconds, but it seemed like the kids were having fun. Then the breakdown began. I didn't give the baby anything to eat before we left and he started screaming. He may very well have been hot, tired or hungry, but thoughts of him dehydrating started flying through my head. I loaded up the kids, and the three year old was NOT happy because she didn't get to play on the swings. As the oldest, I understood her pain.
Walking back was exhausting. I had on cheap flip flops that kept digging into my feet, and we were headed uphill the entire way. I even heard a "Faster, faster!" from the little girl! When we got home, I saw mascara smeared all over my face, noticed that the girl only had one of her two bows in her hair and was pretty sure that we lost one of her pink shoes. Of course, as soon as I tried to feed the baby, he wanted nothing to with it.
We played "push Jenny down" for a little while, which was loads of fun. Honestly, if you can hear a little kid giggle that hard for rolling me onto the ground, it really is worth it. I was so tired when I got home I could barely keep my eyes open until 9 pm. These kids are adorable and so well behaved, but I don't know how you moms do it! I only had them for 3 hours!!
I used to tell Mike that I wanted 4 kids...time will tell.
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