So part of my purpose in traveling to DC was to watch my friend's 3 kids for 2 days while she and her husband went away. You see, they will be moving to Africa in about a month and I thought it'd be nice to do this for them before they leave. Of course, it does give me an excuse to see them once more before the big move...
They have two boys, ages 6 and 2, and a little girl, age 9 mos. Their little girl has the most mild temperment, so no problem there. The 6-year-old is old enough to entertain himself. The 2-year-old...well...he's a bit of a live wire! He was the one I was most concerned about as far as behavior goes, most particularly in sacrament meeting.
I arrived from England last Friday night and Tia and hubby left for NYC at 2 AM, so my job began almost right away. Saturday proved to be a pretty good day. The boys were behaving and playing together well and sister was content with just about anything. We took a trip to the school playground, during which the 6-year-old asked whether I knew how to play on the monkey bars and could I show him how...That was interesting. It's much, much easier to swing on them when you don't have so much weight to support, which is probably why I have rarely attempted such a feat since the age of 10... Since I could stand on the ground and reach the bars, I opted for the theoretical approach to monkey bar playing and demonstrated by walking rather than actual hanging. This seemed acceptable and just as effective, though being only 6 still made it difficult for him. Nevertheless, I can rest assured that I've given him a good foundational knowledge of successful monkey bar playing.
The rest of the day went well. Saturday night was bath time, and in spite of half the bath water ending up on the bathroom floor, it was fairly routine. They all even went to bed without a problem. Phew!
Sunday dawned bright and sunny ... a glorious Mother's day. I woke up early to get myself ready before the kids got up and began preparing myself for the task of keeping 3 kids entertained and quiet for a little over an hour. We got to church and I found a side pew in the back of the chapel. But I had to ask myself, "Why do the side pews in newer chapels not attach to the walls like in older chapels? It's so much easier to keep kids in the pew if there's not a side exit." We sat down and got settled a bit before the meeting started.
Sister sat in her car seat rather content eating a baby biscuit. That was her taken care of... The boys...well, they went from coloring, to asking for treats, to reading little church books, to asking for more treats, to asking for the other treats, to coloring, to asking for more treats. Then the 6 year-old got up to sing to the moms with the Primary. The 2 year-old sat quietly watching brother sing. Then it was back to coloring, to asking why there weren't more treats, to coloring (the 6 year-old) and to threatening to leave through the side exit (the 2 year-old), to wanting more treats. The 2 year-old started getting more daring, threatening to leave the pew, and at one point he even walked around the back of the pew but came back in on the side I was sitting. That was a great relief! I could tell, though, that all 3 were getting more restless as the hour progressed. I began to slightly panic when it was time for the meeting to end and we were only on the first of two speakers. Anyone sensible would finish it early on Mother's day so the moms could send the kids to Primary and really enjoy church. I might make that suggestion one day. As it turned out, the meeting ended 15 minutes late, and with a sigh of relief I took the boys to Primary and nursery. I had survived!
The rest of the day was fine. We had lunch, then dinner later and a little movie night. I was quite happy when I had all 3 in bed a little after 9 PM. Tia and hubby were due home around midnight, so my job was pretty much done. My last task was to pick them up from the metro just a few minutes' drive away. Well, apparently the kids wore me out, because I slept through 5 phone calls - they ended up having to walk home, but they managed to find a taxi on the way - and then knocks on the door and bedroom windows. The 2 year-old likes to open the door and run away so they installed a chain at the top of the front door out of his reach so he can't unlock the door. I had the chain in place upon laying down because I had intended on picking them up. Well, since I was fast asleep and the chain was in place, they couldn't get in the front door. They had to resort to climbing in through an unlocked window in order to get into the house. I was oblivious to their presence, as I was quite asleep, until they both came into the room I was sleeping in. I somehow immediately woke up then ... and have felt terrible since that I not only failed to pick them up but also locked them out of their own house! Ha!
Thankfully they're good enough of friends to not hold it against me...at least I hope. :)
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