Let me give you a sampling of this morning while babysitting (but it could be any given morning):
- Arrival time draws near, I scramble to put away "un-shareables" - any of Nathan's toys that can't be shared (tricycle), cause accidents (dump truck), or hurt excessively when thrown (wooden blocks, matchbox cars).
- Boys show up.
- Small talk with their mom.
- Mom walks out the door. I confiscate pacifiers. (Dallas is a month from being 4, and Drew will be 2 in November - my belief is they are too old for binkys... Naptime maybe. But not while they are playing. They keep telling me this month they're getting rid of them!)
- Boys eat whatever breakfast brought with them. Drew carries his around with him, dropping crumbs and chunks all over the place. Throws remaining breakfast on floor and dashes to eat whatever Nathan left of his breakfast on the table. Spits it out, realizing it's scrambled eggs and he doesn't like them. However, he takes yet another bite and spits it out again all over the floor.
- Nathan asks for milk. Borderline whining. I give him a partial sippy of watered down milk and he lays down and watches TV.
- Nathan finishes his milk and gets tired of TV. Starts going through the basket of "wheels" (tractors, trains, cars, etc). This attracts the other two.
- Yell at Dallas for throwing toys he doesn't want to play with out of his way.
- Nathan and Drew fight over a tractor. Referee for a few minutes until Drew gets tired of said tractor and finds something else.
- Decide since there's no drama currently going on, it's time for email and Facebook.
- Turn around to find Drew carrying a tractor around in his mouth. Yell at him.
- Nathan and Dallas watch Gulliver's Travels, so they are quiet while Drew wanders around.
- Drew gets stuck between the chair and couch. Screams bloody murder.
- Get Drew unstuck, find Dallas with a pacifier. Confiscate "binker" again. Whining.
- Go back to interneting.
- Nathan corners Drew trying to take a tractor. Start to go to Drew's defense, then realize he has been carrying around an entire armload of tractors, so give Nathan the one he wants. Drew screams and beats head against door.
- Peaceful few minutes chatting with my best friend on Facebook.
- Yell at Drew again about chewing on the wheels of the tractors.
- Go to get a drink and AGAIN find Dallas with pacifier. Throw it into the kitchen sink where he can't see or reach it.
- Drew gets stuck AGAIN in the exact same place.
- Unstick him and he wanders off and finds a piece of his dropped and stepped on breakfast. Picks it up off the floor and eats it.
- Nathan gets bored and whines again for more milk.
- Gulliver's Travels locks up (cheap DVD), so let Dallas pick out a different movie. Chooses Baby Einstein Head-to-Toe.
- After starting DVD, find Dallas rooting around in their diaper bag. Move diaper bag to another room. Whining ensues, including "I want to go home" and "I don't like this movie" (the one HE chose).
- Gripe to Brooke about the whining.
- Spank Nathan for throwing something after I told him not to. Dallas whines about this, too.
- After 20 minutes, decide to go start lunch (at 10:45). Food solves all problems, right?
- See Drew has a tractor dangling out of his mouth again. Take it away from him and throw it into the other room. (Broke my own "no throwing" rule.)
- Fix lunch. Nathan whines again. Satiate him with Pringles.
- Drew sees Nathan with food and comes running. Give him a tortilla chip. He eats it, and picks up one that apparently got dropped and kicked under the counter last night. He eats it, too.
- Dallas continues whining. I give him the choice: nap, spanking, or stop whining. He lays on the floor and covers his head. Still whimpers, but not out and out whining.
- Make Dallas go potty and reprimand him for his "hands free" approach. (Even if I made him clean up his mess, I'd still have to clean it up right. No wonder he always tells me he doesn't want help.) Change Drew's diaper while I supervise hand-washing.
- Mac and Cheese finally gets done. Sit everyone down. Everyone is happy. Rachel is happy that they are being quiet.
- Nathan chooses Aristocats to watch after lunch. Everyone sits down. I sit down to read an email I was expecting. (FYI - I normally don't let them watch this much TV, but it's too hot to spend all morning outside, and I have a hard time wrangling them outside unless Paul is home to help me. Plus, I just feel lazy today.)
- Peaceful while they all play quietly or watch TV.
- Notice Dallas dash to diaper bag, then go hide. Suspicions aroused. Take the cereal bar he'd gotten away from him (he'd just eaten a half a box of Mac and Cheese on his own, so I knew he wasn't hungry). He didn't really fight me on it.
- However, noticed him moments later come in from the kitchen and try to cover his head up with a blanket. Go to investigate and find him YET AGAIN with the pacifier. Give him a swat and take it away. VERY tempted to chuck it in the trash. All sorts of whining ensues, complete with "I want to go home!" Whining continues until he leaves.
- Nathan and Drew want the same toy. Nathan "puts the squeeze on" Drew. (He doesn't ever hit him, he just holds him down to get what he wants.) Drew screams and sobs, complete with tears. I think the over-reaction is indicative of need for a nap, so I lay him down on the couch and cover him up. He gets off the couch. Repeat entire sequence.
- Dallas finds the MegaBlocks (huge Legos, basically). Dumps entire bag and tosses them around living room. Since it's not an out and out throw, I choose to ignore that he's doing this. (Called choosing your battles.)
- Intermitent whining.
- Nathan whines for milk. (I think I have an addict.)
- I hear their dad pull in. I have Dallas pick up the blocks he's scattered. More whining with "I can't." and "I want my binkers." I tell him he can have his binker when his dad gives it to him in the truck.
- Greet their dad. Tell him about today's drama (limiting it to "had to take away Dallas's binky 3 times" and "Drew's been screaming and sobbing with tears several times today.") Repeat to Dallas that his Dad will give him the binky when they're in the truck, after he's picked up the toys.
- Give the binkys to the dad. He sticks them immediately in their mouths. Had to quell my irritation.
- Say goodbye. Take Nathan outside to wave goodbye.
- Change Nathan's diaper and put him down for a nap.
- PEACE AND QUIET.
2 comments:
oh man! It's one thing when it's your own kids acting up, but I find I have a very low tolerance for that stuff.
Kudos to you for enduring.
The hardest part about watching children not your own, is not knowing if you ever can make a real difference. At some point you have to decide if the money outweighs the stress and the influence on your own child. I had the same problem with substitute teaching. I never had time to even know the kids names or to run a class my way...... but I saw one young man later. I evidently made some impression on him.... you never know. But note that I am so longer subbing....
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