Babysitting 101

I have never baby-sat.  Ever.  Not even my nieces and nephew.  So you can understand that even with the best of intentions — and despite the assurances I gave our couple friend that they can call me anytime — tonight, when they finally asked for my help, I was mortified.  

T and N live just around the corner from us (N is the husband's college classmate).  They're both nurses and there are two nights in a week when their schedules overlap for an hour.  They have three kids. N's mom had been staying with them for nine months and it was time she went back to the Philippines.  T said maybe it's okay to leave the kids alone for that one-hour window, anyway, they are almost always asleep by then.  I was horrified;  I told her a lot of things can happen in an hour.  I offered to sit in, just to oversee things, before her husband comes home.  Up until tonight, they've tried to work their schedules out.  Tonight, they were in a tight spot.  The one thing that wasn't in the contract was the possibility that one of the kids might be awake.  Hadn't the mom assured me all three would be asleep and I only had to watch for, maybe, sleepwalkers in the lot?  But yes, the youngest was wide awake and the mom turned her over to me as she gathered up her things for work.   

Need I say it again?  I was mortified.  What was I to do with a wide-awake one-year-old baby girl?  

Turns out it was easier than I'd imagined.  She is a well-behaved little girl, who stayed glued to the Leap Frog DVD her mom played just before she hopped on her SUV.  I had her in my lap as she gurgled out cute baby sounds.  I was waiting for her to cry, or look for her mom, but she happily stayed in place, shouting out "Eeeeeeees" in between chewing on my wristlet.

When her dad arrived an hour later, I almost didn't want to relinquish her to him. 

She's such a sweet little angel and I can't wait to baby-sit her again.