I recently had the opportunity to babysit three of my grandkids for a week, as their parents (my daughter, Rachel & her husband, Kyle) had to be out of town.
Fully aware that it had been quite a while since I "ran a household" with three young children, I arrived a day early to watch Rachel's routine. She was very organized, and had a daily schedule made out for me, which included the routine for each child. "Girls up by 7:45 a.m., fix breakfast, dress them, make school lunches, check backpacks for homework, jackets, walk them to the bus stop". Seemed simple enough.
Did I mention I was also dog-sitting their young, yet large, golden retriever, Charlie? He's house-broken, but I found out the hard way that you can't just let him out to go potty, you have to chain him up (as their is not a fenced yard). So... first morning on duty, I awake early, as my 2 year old grandson, Connor, slept with me... (correction: I didn't "awake", I had been awake all night). Anyway, I arose, with Connor crying for mommy. I patiently took him downstairs, made him breakfast, gave him a big hug and set him in front of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", while I held Charlie's collar to take him outside to go potty. Being a bit wiser now, I took the "shortcut" through the garage, and chained him up in the back yard. I ran, barefoot and in my pj's, back through the garage to go back inside... low and behold- I locked myself out!
"You're just a super grandma!", I thought, sarcastically, as I stood in the garage pounding on the door for little Connor to hopefully open it up. My first full day on duty, and I have just locked all three children in the house, without supervision! The girls were still sound asleep upstairs, and Connor was enjoying his juice and cartoons. After about 15 minutes of pounding on the door, and praying, I heard Connor's little feet patter across the floor, he opened the door with "Hi Nana! I'm hungry!". I was SO glad that door didn't have the childproof knob cover on it, like the front door did!
The week went better after that, (except for Connor stuffing his coat in the toilet), but I definitely realized how much my daughter does, and how glad I was that I had my children at a young age! I was exhausted by the end of the week, but oh so blessed to spend that time in their home with those three amazing children!
I'll rest up a while, then hope I get another opportunity soon. :)
