Adventures in baby-sitting
Jun. 4th, 2004 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
candylandYesterday was a pretty eventful day for me. I went and helped out at a local space camp for children; a co-worker of my aunt runs it. This isn't anything fancy, really. Basically, the kids come in and learn about space stations and the different parts of a space station. Then they get into teams and they build a space station using a lot of different and very creative materials. For example, there were a couple of groups that had old bread machines as their main part. It's really quite interesting.
Then, later that afternoon, my sister (Arwen, for Internet purposes) and I went to see Shrek 2. Arwen had already seen it, but she promised to take me, since she works at the movie theatre and can get one guest in free with her. Ya know, my sister could at least pretend to give a damn, but she whined, moaned, and bitched all the way there and right up until the movie started. Then she seemed to settle in and enjoy it.
But anyhoo, the movie. I am a big Shrek fan. Absolutely adore the first one. And I have to say that the second time around was pretty decent for a sequel. It wasn't as good as the first one, by no means--it didn't quite have that charm. But it was pretty good, and there were a few parts where I enjoyed mucho laughs. So I'd recommend that any Shrek fan should see it.
When we got home, we'd been given the request by the parentals that we were to mow the lawn. So Arwen mowed the front yard, and I mowed the back. I'm not kidding you--I had just finished and turned the mower off when my sister comes out with the phone. It's my cousin Amanda, in need of a sitter for the evening. She has two children--Noah is three, and Lacey is seven months. Her exact words were "Wanna get paid tonight?"
After a quick shower, I was off! She gave me instructions, and she and her husband left. So it was me and two kids. Not too big a deal. We played Elefun--that game where the elephant shoots butterflies out of his nose, and you catch them with nets? Yeah. We played that.
Well, after about an hour, Miss Lacey started getting fussy--rubbing her eyes, crying unless she had her bottle. Said bottle was empty after about fifteen minutes (it hadn't been totally full to begin with), so I ran to mix some more formula. She's crying, and I'm trying to shake the bottle. It's like, "I'm coming! I'm coming!" That was when I decided to put her to bed. Changed her diaper, and I turned on this music thing, did exactly what Amanda said.
And Lacey didn't want to go to sleep. So I thought maybe I'd rock her a little bit. There's a rocking chair in her room, so I sat there with her in my lap. Then she starts pawing at the little swing there, so I buckled her in there and set her swinging. She calmed right down, and went right to sleep after that.
Noah was fine for a while. He's in a picky stage, so he just kind of munched on stuff all evening. Hey, at least he's eating. We watched Alice in Wonderland (great movie), and then he started showing all the classic signs of being tired. But he didn't want to put his pajamas on, and I just decided not to push the issue. Hey, there are worse arguments I could lose. So I read to him for a while. Then crisis struck.
Noah wanted his mommy. And he wanted mommy NOW. Eventually he did cry himself out and fall asleep, but it was pretty heartbreaking.
So then it was just me, all by my lonesome, with nothing to do...except kick back and wait for 'mommy' and 'daddy' to get home. In other words, I threw on an anime movie (Fruits Basket!!!!) that I'd stashed in my bag just in case, and kicked back with a can of pop. And yea, verily, it was good.
Amanda had called me and told me they'd be home by about eleven, eleven-thirty-ish. Well, at about midnight, they rolled in. We chatted a bit, they paid me. I got a bonus because they were late...not that I really cared. I mean, the last two hours were me sitting there making sure the house didn't decide to spontaneously combust or something. I did a great job of protecting that really comfy chair in their living room. ^__^
So came home, went to bed, enjoyed pleasant sleep. All in all, not a bad way to spend a night. They're great kids, really. So I call the night a success.
Laters!
Candy-chan ^_^
Then, later that afternoon, my sister (Arwen, for Internet purposes) and I went to see Shrek 2. Arwen had already seen it, but she promised to take me, since she works at the movie theatre and can get one guest in free with her. Ya know, my sister could at least pretend to give a damn, but she whined, moaned, and bitched all the way there and right up until the movie started. Then she seemed to settle in and enjoy it.
But anyhoo, the movie. I am a big Shrek fan. Absolutely adore the first one. And I have to say that the second time around was pretty decent for a sequel. It wasn't as good as the first one, by no means--it didn't quite have that charm. But it was pretty good, and there were a few parts where I enjoyed mucho laughs. So I'd recommend that any Shrek fan should see it.
When we got home, we'd been given the request by the parentals that we were to mow the lawn. So Arwen mowed the front yard, and I mowed the back. I'm not kidding you--I had just finished and turned the mower off when my sister comes out with the phone. It's my cousin Amanda, in need of a sitter for the evening. She has two children--Noah is three, and Lacey is seven months. Her exact words were "Wanna get paid tonight?"
After a quick shower, I was off! She gave me instructions, and she and her husband left. So it was me and two kids. Not too big a deal. We played Elefun--that game where the elephant shoots butterflies out of his nose, and you catch them with nets? Yeah. We played that.
Well, after about an hour, Miss Lacey started getting fussy--rubbing her eyes, crying unless she had her bottle. Said bottle was empty after about fifteen minutes (it hadn't been totally full to begin with), so I ran to mix some more formula. She's crying, and I'm trying to shake the bottle. It's like, "I'm coming! I'm coming!" That was when I decided to put her to bed. Changed her diaper, and I turned on this music thing, did exactly what Amanda said.
And Lacey didn't want to go to sleep. So I thought maybe I'd rock her a little bit. There's a rocking chair in her room, so I sat there with her in my lap. Then she starts pawing at the little swing there, so I buckled her in there and set her swinging. She calmed right down, and went right to sleep after that.
Noah was fine for a while. He's in a picky stage, so he just kind of munched on stuff all evening. Hey, at least he's eating. We watched Alice in Wonderland (great movie), and then he started showing all the classic signs of being tired. But he didn't want to put his pajamas on, and I just decided not to push the issue. Hey, there are worse arguments I could lose. So I read to him for a while. Then crisis struck.
Noah wanted his mommy. And he wanted mommy NOW. Eventually he did cry himself out and fall asleep, but it was pretty heartbreaking.
So then it was just me, all by my lonesome, with nothing to do...except kick back and wait for 'mommy' and 'daddy' to get home. In other words, I threw on an anime movie (Fruits Basket!!!!) that I'd stashed in my bag just in case, and kicked back with a can of pop. And yea, verily, it was good.
Amanda had called me and told me they'd be home by about eleven, eleven-thirty-ish. Well, at about midnight, they rolled in. We chatted a bit, they paid me. I got a bonus because they were late...not that I really cared. I mean, the last two hours were me sitting there making sure the house didn't decide to spontaneously combust or something. I did a great job of protecting that really comfy chair in their living room. ^__^
So came home, went to bed, enjoyed pleasant sleep. All in all, not a bad way to spend a night. They're great kids, really. So I call the night a success.
Laters!
Candy-chan ^_^