Adventures in Babysitting

So I started babysitting last week. I've only gone twice, but I'm already reeling a bit. "High energy" isn't quite the phrase I'd use for the 5yr old. I was looking for a book on the playroom shelf and ran into a stack of material on ADHD....yep, that's more along the lines of what I was thinking. Nice....

Thankfully the weather's been decent every time I've been there, so we just head out to the backyard where I promptly school him in soccer and he gets all sweaty and worn out trying too hard. We then head in to build castles, pile up a duvet to create caves for the dinosaurs who will then guard the pirate treasure that the Roman soldiers and their fleet of boats what to take. Clearly we transcend the boundaries of time; how long would the Roman Empire really have lasted if they'd had to fight dinosaurs at every turn?

Then everything gets demolished and the Playmobil soccer dudes break out - at which point I'm the one getting schooled in soccer thanks to all the illegal jumping, kung fu kicking, and running around the entire room that goes on by the opposing team. That's just silly; at 6' 1" I'm not running around a room with slanted ceilings, nor will I get sweaty jumping on the furniture in said playroom just to make an illegal goal. Let him think he knows how to play soccer.

At this point the baby monitor alerts me that the 3yr old is awake and ready for a diaper change - the contents of which have been practically nuclear. It's clearly time for a change...in more ways than one! The 5yr old is ready to make trouble with his little sister and makes his stand at snack time. This is when we have differing opinions on how much fruit one must eat before getting a small sweet snack. (1 grape does not count) Once finished I quickly usher them outdoors where running, screaming, fighting over the swing, and throwing rotten apples fallen from the apple tree ensues. Lovely. Did I mention I'm trying to develop their English vocabulary during all this?

There's always been a royal meltdown by one or both kids about 5 minutes before the parents come home from work. I bet that's a nice welcome home present for them. I'm glad I'm only there for 3hrs twice a week. It's more than enough.