So on top of being a full time Early Childhood Educator and part time server at a Country Club, I also occasionally babysit to make a little spending cash.
So last night I was super excited to babysit for a little girl I had in my class at my old preschool and her new little brother. That's right, a 3 1/2 year old and a 3 month old... CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! Now I anticipated that the parents would leave a little later than expected because I am only the second person to watch said new little baby and I was far warned that he can be a little cranky and comes with a "Witching" hour...AWESOME!
I arrived promptly at 5pm and was given the basics again (it had been a while since I had babysat for them). Met the new little guy, solo incredibly cute, no surprise there considering Mom and Dad are Red Carpet ready at any time of day. Then the "Witching" began and the fussing and there is nothing worse than a Mother watching you trying to comfort her baby. Needless to say they didn't leave for another hour...
Then bedtime began, he put up a little fight at first, but that's when *my natural instincts* kick in. The shushing and butt/back tapping works 90% of the time, I KID YOU NOT! As a woman in my 3year in the field and 12year of babysitting, I give you this free advice on the house, your welcome :).
Baby was OUT! (insert angels singing) and it was time to play with the 3year old; small board games, a HUGE whiteboard on the wall (WHAT?!!! ~SCORE!), and then 30mins into our time little man wakes up -_- ok sorry gotta go check and what do you know, we're hungry... force a little 2 1/2 ounces (he is not a great eater), change our diaper, and pat the butt back to sleep. Now he's got 3, count them three spots to sleep in, so I changed it up and moved him to another spot cuz the last one didn't work out. Down for the count for the second time now.
Thank goodness it was getting late and time for the 3yr old to get ready for bed and she was getting teary eyed so I knew she was going down quickly. Read book, cuddle, and she was out. Time to celebrate right? WRONG!
Baby's up again and this time it's a good 20mins of walking around, back and butt patting, and all the shushing possible. Finally both kids down and it's after 9, fabulous...another 2 or 3 hours and I'll be heading home and sleeping myself...or so I thought. Now this family had a few other couples over before heading out and one of the couples came home early and informed me it was just them and that everyone else was "rallying" it up... this was at Midnight...ok so I'll be here a while later than expected.
Now I love my sleep and falling asleep in front of the t.v. is even better. In and out of sleep for over 3hrs though, not ideal. I either woke because I heard a noise, child scurrying about (oh did I mention the girl woke at about 12:30 and I had to lay with her again?), a need to check on the sleeping children- I do this quite often when babysitting because I don't trust monitors haha. Rolling around to just after 1am and they finally roll in...Drunk as all hell and informing me the McDonald's is now open 24hrs a day and that the apple pie was all his, thanks for the info! haha
Now I knew this family from the child care center I worked at previously, so I knew there would be some questions after a bit of alcohol influence, no big deal. Then there was the search for cash around the house to pay me. And the neighbor who stopped in and was asked to spend the night, "Let's watch Lone Survivor! You know Marky Mark. Call your wife, you're sleeping over!" ~late 30s father here. HAHA that made staying up till almost 2 worth my while.
Finally got home where I was even more excited about the now time change because my Niece was also sleeping over my parents house. Set the alarm to get up to play with her and hit the hay :)
*Not to pat myself on the back too much, but sometimes I even impress myself with the skills I pull out of a hat in order to get kids to eat or sleep*
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