Play-Dohn't

One of mine and Joe's commitments for 2013 was to find a babysitter, and then hire her at least monthly.

In late 2012 we were connected with a babysitter and did a "trial run," having her babysit for just Wren while Joe and I took the boys on a fun date.  The true test, we knew, would come when she watched all three kids.  

Last Saturday we put it - us, them, her - to the test.  I was already on edge about having a 13 year old watch all three of the kids together.  Add to the mix that her Dad is one of my superior's at work, and I was downright nervous.  Although he's not my direct boss, he's on that level.  Higher than me on the totem pole, which means not only can he evaluate me as an employee, but he'll now be able to gleam first hand, unedited knowledge of my kids, which can result in evaluating me as a parent, too.  

As I've shared repeatedly, my kids are beautiful and caring and so sweet.  And they can also be wild and argumentative and fight with each other.  

Our new babysitter is incredibly conscientious and mature for 13.  I feel very confident in her abilities to care for the kids and have fun with them.  I just don't want to scare her away if the boys would get too wild when she was watching them.  

Taking all things into consideration, we decided to have her sit from 4:30-8pm.  That way, all kids were fresh off their naps and if Wren didn't go to bed easily for her at 7pm, at least it wouldn't be the end of the world getting home at 8pm.  I worried that if we had her come at a normal babysitting hour (6-10pm or something), and it was a bust, Joe and I would return home to three kids all up WAY past bedtime and misbehaving.  We thought we'd improve everyone's odds of success this first time and have a "senior citizen" hour date night.

After reviewing all the details of dinner and bedtime and do's/don'ts with the kids we rushed off to a movie.  I reinforced how she could call us with ANY questions or if the kids were out of hand.  And she did call.  

After about an hour and a half my phone rang at the movie theatre.  My heart sank.  I ran out of the theatre to talk with her. She was calling because as much as she thought she understood how to work our TV/computer to get a movie to play, she couldn't quite figure it out now (I had suggested starting a movie to keep the boys entertained when it was time to put Wren to bed).  Of course I have no idea to get a movie working on our TV myself, so I had to run and get Joe to talk to her.  But before I got off the phone with her I asked how everything was going.  She was totally cool, calm, collected.  There was no yelling in the background.  She assured me all was really great.  

I got Joe.  He walked her through the movie start-up process.  And I relaxed so much better the back-half of our date.  I think her calling was the best thing she could have done, as it eased my nerves.  If she was courageous enough to call about turning a movie on, I feel confident she'll call in the future if anything serious needed our attention.  

When Joe and I returned home all was well.  The boys were watching the movie.  She did say, although Wren went down easily to bed, she woke up just 20 minutes after falling asleep because IPA barked (UGH! Hate that).  I'll have to tell her next time to shut Wren's door and turn the fan on for background noise.  Anyway, Wren cried a bit, but she was able to get her back to bed...she was asleep when we got home and slept the night through.  After the boys finished their movie we had fun asking them about their time with the sitter.  I could tell Otto enjoyed having her, but couldn't get a good read from Max.

When driving the sitter home I pressed a bit more...  Are you sure they were good for you?  I know how loud they can get.  I know how they can fight with each other.  You can always tell me if they were not well-behaved because I want you to want to babysit again (soon).  

She insisted they were really good.  A little wild right when we left, but they settled down quickly.  After I asked one more time, she did say "Well....there was just one thing."  Oh dear.

She said when she came out of Wren's room from putting her down they had mixed some of the Play-Doh colors together.  She asked them if Mom gets upset when they mix the Play-Doh and Max said "Sometimes she doesn't really like it."

Really?  First, that's awesome that that is the worst thing that happened.  HUGE relief.  Her sharing this story makes me think they really were well behaved and that she really will tell me if they aren't in the future.  

Second, we don't have too many Play-Dohn'ts in our house.  Keep it on the table.  And as with everything, eat it in moderation.  I can't say that I've ever asked the boys not to mix colors (and here I am thinking I'm way too relaxed as a parent), but interesting that Max thinks I don't want him mixing Play-Doh colors. 

And just this afternoon I called our babysitter to confirm a date in February.  While on the phone with her Mom, she told me how she had enjoyed babysitting.  How all the kids were really cute and sweet.  But she was truly enchanted with Max.  She loved the conversations she had with him, the questions he asked.  That he was a neat kid.  

Speaking of the babysitter being enchanted with Max and his conversations...  It reminded me of the first question I heard the sitter ask Max as Joe and I were leaving.  While they were settling in to play with Play-Doh, she asked Max "Do you like Play-Doh?"

His response:  "Yeah.  It's kind of salty, so it tastes pretty good."

Enchanting and neat-o, my Max.

So glad all went well. I've got the sitter lined up for February.  Next commitment for 2013 - we must get a photo of me and Joe together on every month's play date.  Dear lord.  I did just write that.  And I'm not editing it out.  You all get what I meant.