Left Coast Mama » babysitting

Freedom in sight

Gwen — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:23:31 +0000

It is official. I have an end date for taking care of T. He actually has a nanny who will come to his house and he will be the only child being taken care of. T. will be so much happier to have the attention only on him, and he will be home. I am very glad that it will be better for him as well.
I am sooooooooo happy. It is a relief, now Aidan and T. can have some playdates but then they go back to their own beds for naps. I can get Aidan down for sleep early if I need to and he won’t be disturbed from his naps. I can have at least 45 minutes to myself! I may actually be able to get some planning done for teaching. I can go to the bathroom. I might be able to get from 4pm to 5:30pm without wanting to scream 5 days a week. WOW! I am so happy.

Monday morning freedom here I come.

Confessions Update

Gwen — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 01:32:00 +0000

I wrote earlier about some of my frustrations with the two boys that I am looking after; my own and a friend’s son. I was trying to figure out how I was going to get our rules to mesh a bit better. The unfortunate thing is that we can’t have a rule for my house and not hers because at 12 months he won’t understand that different situations have different rules.

So I broached the subject of throwing objects. I was positive and I just said that “Something we are working on is not throwing objects even balls.” I told her my strategy of taking the ball or whatever and stating what the object is for. I.E. “The ball is for rolling not for throwing. The maraca is for shaking not for throwing.” I am hoping that with all of us doing the same thing I will have the boys under a little bit of control and not have them hurt or my house broken.

I also gave her his first “drawing” before I broached anything. I know she was very pleased with it and I hope it softened the blow. I also hope that crouching it in positive language made it better. I am trying to make things easier for all of us and keep the boys safer.

Tags: babysitting, rules

Post 3: am I Stupid?

Gwen — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 01:34:00 +0000

Well, ok, it started well. Then I realized that Tristan is a sleep moaner. A loud sleep moaner. Aidan did well and I made sure the music was on. Unfortunately the sleep timer kicked in at about 45-50 minutes of his sleep. Which for those of you who don’t know Aidan’s sleep patterns is about the time he will wake up if something disturbs his cycle. So I only go about 40 minutes to myself.

Oh well, tomorrow I will have the music playing the whole time!!!

Post 2: am I Stupid?

Gwen — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 21:14:00 +0000

The answer is “NO!” They are both asleep. They talked (well Aidan did) for about 5 minutes, and when I peeked in just after the last post they were both quiet and lying down. Five minutes later both, asleep. Wow. Time to myself. Yeah!

Post 1: am I Stupid?

Gwen — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 21:00:00 +0000

I need a few minutes to myself. Both Aidan and Tristan need a nap. Both are fighting them. They both need to sleep in the same room. Am I being ridiculous trying to put them down at the same time? I will give them both 10 minutes and check on them. Keep you posted.

Over and out.

Two Boys, A Cold and a Nap

Gwen — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 22:31:00 +0000

This week I started to sit for G. as she went back to work. T. has been very good and there haven’t been too many tears. Both he and Aidan have been napping but just not at the same time. They have been playing together quite well with not too many fights. I even think that T. will stop stalking the cats soon. The only thing that I have been worried about for a long time is the naps.

Naps are my down time. The time I get to do the really decadent things in my life. You know those things that make you life much more comfortable. Yes, I am talking about getting something to eat, a decent cup of tea, and the most decadent of all . . . I get to go to the bathroom . . . BY MYSELF!!!!!! So you must be guessing that the last two days might have been a little, . . . well (sigh) tiring. Yes I must admit that I was incredibly tired last night. So tired that I told Anthony the choice for dinner was either he or I go and get Wendy’s. (He didn’t complain.)

Of course all this was made much more difficult because Aidan had to go and get himself a head cold. This meant that Monday night he was up every hour wanting to be breastfed to clear his nose. Last night we gave in and I also bought a warm humidifier and Dimetap infant drops for stuffy nose. And guess what, Aidan slept till 4:00 am. (Good thing Anthony and I went to bed at 9:00 pm.) It took us a while to get him back to sleep and I was all to happy to dose him again.

This morning when T. came he had decided to also get the cold and kept his parents up all last night as well. At least it made both the boys tired. I took them out to play in the playground and brought them back for lunch. G. came and put T. down for his nap and when she left I fed Aidan to sleep.

So, now they are both in the same room and asleep at the same time. And what do I do? Do I get the time to do the decadent thing as mentioned above. No I blog. Excuse me while I go to the bathroom. Alone. (Woo Hoo!!!!!!)