Monday, May 14, 2012

Toddler reminders

I recently had the opportunity to babysit for a friend.  I'm still new in the area and I don't know people as well as I would like, so when I offered to babysit, I wasn't sure what ages the kids were.

Due to many other activities going on that day, I only had my two youngest at home and they were super excited at being able to have friends over to play even if they didn't know who the friends were.

When the kids were dropped off, I was happy to find I would be watching a 5 year old girl (Little E) and a 1 year old boy (Little J).  My 4 year old Peanut was so thrilled to have a girl over to play with.

My living room was in play condition.  That means there were toys all over the floor and a basket of more toys sitting there.  I was glad the toys were out because the little boy cried for the first 5 minutes after getting dropped off.  When we showed him the toys, he got down and played and was happy as could be the rest of the time.  However, Little E decided my living room needed to be cleaned.  She put all the toys in the basket and pushed the basket into the hall.  She would give items sitting out to Peanut and Peanut would happily put them away.  She got my son (6 years old) to sweep the living room floor!!!

It was incredible!  Little E succeed at something I've been trying to do for years!  She can come over any time she wants!

It was fun having Little J in the house.  I discovered my home is kid-friendly, but it is no longer baby-proof.  Little J was opening cupboards and drawers.  He was going up and down the stairs.  He was a pro the stairs, but it still made me a little nervous.  He climbed on the table, over and over.  He kept me very busy.  It was so much fun, though.  I'm glad I don't have to do that every day anymore, but it was fun to do for one day.  It reminded me of my oldest when he was a tot and a good reminder of why I wanted to be done with that stage in life.  Toddlers are so busy and need constant watch.

Whew!

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