I got a text message from my sister yesterday. This started to load as a picture message and since my sister is very pregnant, my first thought was that she had gone into labor and had the baby before she had a chance to contact me to say it was happening. The picture wouldn’t load, so I excitedly read the text. She said that my 2.5 year old niece “had gone poopy on the potty” and was very happy about that. I was then less looking forward to an image and glad that nothing loaded. I called my sister and got the scoop. Nope, she hadn’t gone into labor and no, there wasn’t a photo of poop – though my niece was very proud of herself. My sister and I had a good laugh and I’m looking forward to the “gone into labor” call or text soon.
I got asked to help baby-sit a three year last evening. My friend and I ganged up the little dude and managed to keep this very hyper kid entertained/ occupied while his parents were out to dinner.
We had pizza shortly after his folks left and we all helped clear the table. Next up, building a lego fire truck that I had brought for him. At one point the directions called for flipping the lego pieces over and I joked that maybe he should be the one to be flipped over. He laughed out loud at my silly suggestion and protested, “No, I’m not a fire truck, I’m a boy!”
After the fire truck was put together we worked on a lego helicopter that he had – and he called a hopper-copter – then there were a series of helicopter, fire truck and robot related adventures in the living room.
For the record, the blue robot got named after him. The pinkish-purple girl robot in a skirt got named after me. My friend, who provided the robots to begin with, escaped any robot naming shame.
Next up was a trip to my friend’s house to hang out with his dogs. There was a lot of jumping and running around, but everyone escaped unharmed. Back to the kids house so he could change into his pajamas and then he and I played lego Star Wars for a bit before it was time for stories and bed. His parents came home just before he went to sleep and we de-briefed them before we left. Lots of fun, but wow, I was exhausted when we were done.
As always, I remain impressed and respectful of the great job my sister and brother-in-law are doing with my niece. I watched this one kid – with help -for three hours and was ready to drop. I dunno how they do, but I’m impressed.