babysitting

my neighbor e-mailed me last week to ask me to babysit her 18-month old. i hadn't been so ecstatic to babysit since i was 12. i had offered (multiple times) to babysit anytime. i was just starting to feel depressed because nobody seemed to trust their children in my care (it's no wonder....when i was 16--after babysitting lost its charm, and the only reason i was being called to babysit was because all the other girls were out on dates--i once babysat a little girl who wanted me to read another story, so i totally faked reading to her. i said "blah blah blah" the whole time while occasionally turning the pages. yeah, i know. don't judge me, i have changed. now i just refuse to read to children*) when my neighbor called on me for help. little "a" and i had a blast. we played dress-up. she wore ladybug wings, sequined head scarves (belts for big kids like me, but it gave her such a charming, gypsy quality), and a lovely argyle belt. i wore a feather boa. she tried on all my shoes and paraded around the house. surprisingly fantastic at walking in high heels, that "a". i chased her around the house, along with the tickle monster (she pretended not to like it by running and shrieking, but anytime i caught up with her, all she did was laugh). we unpacked all my belts and scarves from the over-the-door case. and then she helped put them away. like i said, we had a blast. all was fine and dandy until someone came to our door begging for money for the boy scouts. we never have anyone knock on our door so i expected it to be her parents. i got her hopes all up, only to be dashed when i saw boy scout on the stoop (yes, i was still wearing feather boa). there was then a meltdown which lasted until her parents actually arrived about 15 minutes later.

it was still a success.


*to anyone who is reading this that has children and was considering me as your next babysitter (especially my neighbors...), please do not fret over this horrible tale of my babysitting days past. i have turned a new leaf and love entertaining children and will read to them as much as they want. this was just a "joke", trying to demonstrate to my blog readers i am clever and witty. ok? ok (whew).