No Spilled Milk

Well, I never thought I would be one who liked babysitting. Maybe yesterday was a fluke. Everything went so well. No one cried. No one got hurt. By the middle of the afternoon, I had 5 children running around my house. And no walls were colored. No milk was spilled. There was no fighting. The 2 youngest ones were age 2. My Little One and my friend's very quiet, I love to play all by myself all the time little boy. The next ones up were my Dancer Girl (4.96, thank you very much), and her best friend, a little girl who turned 5 last March. The oldest girl is 10 and loves to play with children, hold children, etc. etc. And I guess that explains everything.

When the 10 yr. old's mom asked me to babysit I said no problem. I told her she would be as much help to me as it was to her (my friend got a new job and needed a babysitter on some days til school starts). Long Haired Proud Daddy said, "You seem a lot more relaxed," after the first day of babysitting this girl. It was true. That day, there was also no fighting or crying. I didn't get frustrated with the children one time. (please note that there were also no clothes folded, no dishes washed... I think you get the picture). Since it was her first day here I checked in often to see what everyone was doing, and usually ended up playing with them. You know me, I was the customer who ordered the peanut butter and cheeseburger pizza, and sweet tea with honey, banana split, strawberries, and bananas. :) These girls have great imaginations.

It really helps that this girl will really play What Not to Wear with Dancer Girl(dressing up is one of Dancer Girl's favorite activities). Yes, yes, I let her watch way too much TV, and this is one of her favorite shows, next to Cash in the Attic and Cash Cab and Berenstain Bears and Mr. Rogers. Hey, I just remembered something funny. When Dancer Girl was a toddler(about 2), and I was having my daily TLC fix, namely Trading Spaces or A Baby Story, if she would even see a commercial for Trading Spaces, she would say, "Spaces, spaces! ". She could even sing the theme song. It probably helped that Trading Spaces came on every day when I sat down to nurse her to sleep for her afternoon nap. (I guess you can see why I am having to wean ourselves off the TV....hey, maybe that was why my mom always called it the Boob Tube, never thought of that before---- we are doing really well, by the way---the children even fight to see who gets to turn off the TV).

Oh, wait, I am digressing. The point is that the girls play well together, and this sweet girl can also calm down Little One some of the time and distract her. So far, so good.

So, hey. That is not even what I meant to post about, though at 4 am is it possible to have a coherent thought? Wait, don't answer that.

I meant to ponder all those deep thoughts about why I am not crocheting much (read nothing) right now. Every once in a while, I think about some of my works in progress (WIP's) and think things like, Don't forget what happened the last time you got that out. I think I spent more time detangling the yarn after my girls helped me get it out of the skein than I did crocheting. Mind you, I wasn't mad at them. It was kind of silly, and they had loads of fun. I really do have lots of patience for untangling things (I get this from my dad, and from having really really long hair).

So I have been busy. Busy enjoying my children. When I do crochet, Dancer Girl sits on my lap to help me with a few stitches, which is not very easy because she is left-handed. I decided to tone down my projects and my expectations. When I sew on a button, I have 2 helpers. When I get out the sewing machine for some wild, finish it in a half an hour projects, or to mend Daddy's pants, I let the girls watch and help. It is the least I can do. There is no use trying to "accomplish" lots of things in a stressful way. I might as well let it go, and have fun and not get very much done, but help the girls want to get involved. Of course this means I haven't sewn any cute dresses for the girls like I thought I would (yes, I have bought a couple of patterns....now I say, maybe I will make that for a friend someday). Maybe this is where Motherkitty comes in . Maybe she will get her sewing machine out when she has to close up her pool (because there would be no use asking her now, ha ha).

Which brings me to today. It is the last day of swimming lessons, & Grandma & Grandpa (aka Motherkitty & Tomas) are coming! Hurray! Oh, wait, Sorry, Motherkitty. Hooray!!!!!! See you when you get here!