It's About Time

I had an "oh crap" moment yesterday when i spoke to the boys' sitter and found out her daughter is sick because I had no back-up babysitter. Something I've been meaning to take care of. The two who were originally going to be back-ups have now 1) just had a baby and 2) gone back to work full-time. Yes, there are people in the ward who say "let me know if you ever need anything." But my worry is always that Bode needs to have spent some time with people first to be comfortable. Knowing most of my mommy friends have stuff going on on Thursdays, I tried one who might not and she was available only in the afternoon. Hmmm, what to do?

I realized that there's a family in the ward that homeschools their daughters and they are pretty flexible with their schedules. I've lived here over a year now and still have not secured a babysitter! If you refer back to my "Resolutions" post, finding a babysitter is on there...So, I called this family up, asked if one of their daughters could help me out and the 16-year old jumped at the chance.

I picked her up this morning (that's the only bad thing--they live a good 15-minutes away. It would be nice if they were in the neighborhood, but small price, right?). She had great questions (i.e. what rules do we have?; any allergies?; etc.). To be honest, I've never really had a regular babysitter, or a regular "life" since I had Bode three years ago. So to have someone come over and stay with the kids ALL DAY for the first time other than a mom friend with her own kids is sort of a leap for me. I had a list of their "typical schedule," a list of "things they like to do," and some phone numbers and "safety" reminders (i.e. "Keegen LOVES the stairs but will fall tumble-bumble, pell-mell so stay close if he's climbing up or down"). It was probably overkill, but made me feel better. I'm not a control-freak and I don't expect someone to follow a rigid schedule. I just like to know there's reference for her and I like to know what they're up to during the day and I'd like it to be sort of regular for the boys. So, like I said, I picked her up this AM. I told her last night that my concern was Bode warming up and so i brought her to the house about an hour before I had to leave, gave her a tour and then fed Keegen while she played with Bode upstairs. She was pretty quiet, but played trains with him and Bode seemed totally cool with her. I brought Keegen up and she cooed over him and I hoped to myself that she wouldn't just be into him and not Bode. As I was leaving Bode was talking to her and she was responding in a cute way, so that made me feel better. When I said good-bye to Bode there was no leg-hugging, no tears, no nothing. Just "bye Mom." Awesome! He's changed so much in this area! It used to be a nightmare to leave him anywhere without us (partly why we didn't go out much, just wasn't worth it). Happy day.

So me thinks we have a reliable babysitter that I can actually imagine going out before the boys go to bed, let her put them down! Wow. I never imagined this day would come so soon!...