Props to All You Parents

Friday night I offered to babysit for some friends so they could have a night for themselves.  I’ve watched their kids a few times the past couple of years so we all know each other.  I like the kids and they seem to like me so I was pretty excited for the night.  More than excited, I was anxious for them to come.  Every now and then I need what I call a kid fix.  I just want to be silly and see/hear things as a kid sees and hears them.  A few hours is all it takes and I’m set for months afterwards.  And for a reference there are three of them.  The oldest is a boy 5 years old and the other two are girls ages 4 and 3.  I usually go to their house but this time they came to my little apartment and since I didn’t have any games or toys they could play with, I decided we would make cookies.

In order for their parents to make it to the movies on time (this whole night was kind of a last minute thing), I met them at the theater to pick up the kids.  We got back to my place and upon entering the apartment the 4 year old says to me, “Oh your couches are beautiful.”  Uh-huh, ok thanks.  Kids are funny.  So I sat them down to eat their dinner and then it was cookie making time.  They all crawled up on the counter and I had them take turns dumping the ingredients into the bowl.  So far so good, everyone is having a good time and no one has lost interest in cooking making.  I even let them eat some of the dough before putting it on the sheets to cook.  I realize that might not be the most sanitary thing to do because of e coli, salmonella, or whatever other bacteria there is out there but let’s face it, the dough is the best part of the cookie making process.  I’ve eaten lots of dough in my life and I’m not dead yet so I figured we were safe.  Besides, the oldest kept coughing into the bowl (even though I kept telling him to cover his mouth and turn his head) so what were a little extra germs right?  He then informed me that the germs would cook out with the heat of the oven.  Hmm, uh huh.  I did have to tell his parents that little piece of information because it was too funny to keep to myself. Both were grossed out and the wife turned to her husband and promptly blamed his mother for teaching that.  Awesome.

While the cookies were baking I turned on some Disney show and crossed my fingers it wasn’t inappropriate for their age group.  They weren’t really into it which was probably for the best and instead were busy coloring.  Why I had three boxes of crayons in my room I don’t know but didn’t question it at the time.  The oldest had informed me earlier that his tooth was loose and was going to come out soon.  He wasn’t kidding because not long after that declaration he pulled the tooth out.  Well no biggie.  I pulled out a sandwich bag to put the tooth in and gave him a tissue to use until the bleeding stopped.  I didn’t realize until much later that this was the first tooth he had ever lost.  Which would explain his first reaction of slight panic at seeing blood.  But I assured him that it would stop bleeding “in just a second” and then he could have a cookie and all was well.  I did feel a little bad when his parents came because he was so excited about the tooth that he blurted it out and his mom seemed a little sad that she had missed it.  After all, it was the first tooth any of her kids had lost and she said she had been trying to get him to get that tooth out for weeks.  Um, yeah, well he just pulled it out so…yeah.

Around ten o’clock I was ready for bed because I’m a wuss like that.  The youngest was almost asleep on the couch but the other two were still pretty hyped up.  My attempts to play some game that would require them to lay still didn’t work.  But I had to at least give it a shot.  Then the oldest started asking when his parents were going to be there and all I could say was “in just a couple more minutes” when really I had no idea.  I started to have the kids help me tell them a story when the parents showed up.  Whoo hoo!

Overall the night went well and was fun, I had just forgotten how much energy they all had.  I did take pictures of the kids all night because I thought their parents would like to have some of them making cookies or picures of the first missing tooth.  I would have posted but I don’t know if they would want pictures of their kids on the internet.  After almost three hours I was ready to call it a night and I kept thinking “I don’t know how parents do this full time”.  Sure it’s different when it’s your own kids and fingers crossed I won’t have three at one time but still.  I have a renewed appreciation for parents and what all they do.  So kudos to all you parents out there!