adventures in babysitting

5:15pm: arrive at Marc & Laura's house.

6:10pm: have been playing with Play-Doh for almost an hour. Gabby and I have made several elephants, rabbits, gingerbread men and stars. Mya is content to play with the Play-Doh containers. Surprisingly, Mya doesn't try to eat the Play-Doh (as other children her age would).

6:15pm: am dishing out supper. Gabby tells me she would like "14 bites" of supper, while Mya only requires "2 bites".

7:00pm: have given Mya her "bird bath" (sponge bath).


7:30pm: Mya is crying, won't drink her bottle, and won't go to sleep. The TV has been turned on and Gabby is watching "Max and Ruby" while jumping from the ottoman onto the big bean bag chair. She narrowly avoids jumping on her sister several times.


8:00pm: I leave Mya in the living room while I give Gabby her "bird bath" and brush her teeth. When I come out, Mya is slumped over on the floor, thumb in mouth and fast asleep, which I assumed would happen.


8:30pm: Gabby informs me that she will never sell her Care Bears book to Bobbie (my dad), but that he would have to pay $13 for it. after reading a Dora book several times, Gabby trots off to bed.

9:30pm: Gabby is lying on the floor in the upstairs hallway, which has a grate in the floor that you can see through to the living room. She has her face pressed up against the grate looking down at me, saying "hello Leah" over and over. I tell her to go to bed, which she does.


10:15pm: a huge crash from upstairs, followed by loud crying. I assume Gabby has fallen out of bed, which she has, and I race upstairs to get to her. Mya has woken up and starts to cry, but I leave her be and she went back to sleep quickly. Gabby and I hang out downstairs in the living room chair. I wrap her up in Marc's cozy, which Granny made for him, and she has Leon the lion in her arms (a must) and we have the lights turned down low and we just sit and talk a bit. She pulls up the legs of her ladybug pajamas and examines some bruises and scratches she has already accumulated this spring from her busy little life as a farm girl. She is still awake when Marc and Laura get home, but nobody minds.