tonight i babysat for two kids: a five year old boy named max, and an eight year old girl named lacy.for the first two hours we made some amazing construction paper flowers. lacy was independent and made the flowers her own way. adding stickers and glitter, making the pedals look like hearts and such. but max rolled on the floor whining and almost begging me to do it for him. i refused; i told him that he didn't have to do it;but offered to help him...he continued to pout. what was i supposed to do? i just told him that we would make a blue (his favorite color) flower that would be bigger than his lightning McQueen car. that made him get up.
when we finally completed his "special" flower we began to play with jinga blocks. they made square houses and towers that were five [jinga] blocks high. all was going great till lacy decided that she wanted to knock over max's "fire station". once again, he was rolling on the floor screeching. lacy's excuse was, "he was using all of blocks, he wasn't sharing." i told her to say sorry and not to do it again. i divided up the blocks so that it really wouldn't happen again. then i went to max (who was still on the floor) and told him that i would help him build a house that was big enough to fit his transformer. he got up.
while they continued playing with the blocks i went into the kitchen to make dinner. the specialty tonight was the all so wonderful peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. the one thing that i can't burn.[yes!] we all ate our pb&j while watching the "the wonder pets"....one of the gayest little kid shows i have ever seen. even dora would have been better; and thats not too hard to beat.
max is sick so i was told to put him to bed at eight. but by the time eight o'clock rolled around he was hiding behind couches and under tables. he would not listen to a word i said. i felt like grabbing him by his hair and dragging him to his room...but somehow i managed to control myself. eventually i looked him straight in the eye and as stern as i could get, i told him to get in bed. and he still didn't listen! i grabbed his wrist and personally escorted him to his bed.
when i turned his light off, shut the door, and sat down on the couch with lacy, i thought that i had seen that last of him for that night....and boy how i was wrong. about three times he ran out of room and either hid behind a chair or planted himself on the carpet so that he could not be moved. when my words did not work i went to pick him up; he went limp. he was too heavy for me, i couldn't carry him anywhere. but once lacy stepped in he did everything that she said. i was both frustrated and amazed. i was frustrated that an eight year old had more authority than me, and also because it would have been helpful if she had done it a bit sooner. once she put him to bed he never came out again. [finally!]
in 40 minutes, me and lacy had a bowl of ice cream, played eye spy, and she wrote me a little song. it goes like this:
your the best baby sitter,
your the best baby sitter,
your the best baby sitter ever!
you bring crafts and play games with us,
and when its time for bed you read us a story!
when mom and dad come home you have them check on us.
your the best baby sitter ever!
that was her little song to me, word for word. i have to be honest, its pretty lame. but its sweet and i'll probably hang it up.
lacy went to bed without a problem [i think thats because she speaks and understands english]. i read her a story and tucked her in.
now here i am at midnight, writing about how my night went. and despite all the tantrums i made it through. and i have to admit that i kinda enjoyed it...being the boss and all....;) it was a long night, but it was worth it.
lets just say mangos are not my favorite fruit...
