While my sister and brother-in-law, Mona and Ben have been away doing second interviews for Ben’s job, they have entrusted me again with the care of their two precious little kiddoes, Bridger and Carter. I must be getting used to this nannying business, because last time I was here at the end of August, I was completely exhausted by noon and would crash on the couch as soon as I had put the boys down for their naps while praying they would stay asleep for a long time. This time around, when its naptime, I still have energy to clean the house, check email, and even get in a little bit of LSAT studying time. Also, last time I was here, my back would be aching so bad at the end of the day, I would have trouble sleeping even though I was so tired, and I had to rely on Ibuprofen to get me through to the next morning. This time, I prepared myself by doing some back exercises starting a couple of weeks before I came, and I also learned some great stretches to do that help relieve the tension in my back. It also helps that Carter is walking now, so he doesn’t have to be carried everywhere, although he still wants to be held and carried every once in awhile.
Being around these two little angels has definitely had a variety of moments ranging from those filled with laughter to those filled with frustration, from thinking this is the greatest job in the world to wondering how the heck parents do this every day. Here are a few examples:
-After banging Carter on the head with bath toys, and then having Carter return the favor, then both of them bursting into giggles and hugging, Bridger proudly smiled up at me and exclaimed “We be’d not kind to eachother, Aunt Val! We be’d MEAN! And now we’re kind again!!”
-Carter’s favorite thing to do is to blow “berzerts” on any amount of bare skin he can find. This surprised me the first time it happened because after watching him running around giggling and playing with toys for a few minutes, he looked at me with his shy little smile, walked up to me quietly and opened up his arms as if he wanted a hug. I proudly picked him up and held him close, thinking it was a kind guesture of his affection. I snuggled him in my arms, he buried his head in my neck, and the next thing I knew he was blowing loudly on my bare neck! This caught me completely off guard, and set me off laughing, which in turn made Carter giggle hysterically and then he repeated it over and over again. Now, any time he sees any bare skin (i.e. the skin of my lower back that happened to be exposed while I was bending over picking up toys!) he tries to blow as loudly as he can on it and then bursts into giggles. He even tried to do it on my legs through my nylons as he sat on the floor beneath the bench at church.
-While naptime usually proceeds without much more than the normal weak protests, today was especially chaotic. About 20 minutes after putting Bridger down, I heard him bawling and sobbing and screaming. I opened the door, worried, and asked him what was wrong. He looked at me with huge tears running down his little cheeks and sobbed “I WANT MY DADDY!!” and then continued to be unconsolable. I sat down on his bed next to him and hugged him and tried to calm him down, telling him that Mommy and Daddy would be home on Halloween, that they loved him, that Daddy was busy talking to people at the hospitals. I asked Bridger if he loved his Daddy, and he said “Yes.” Then I asked “What does your Daddy do for you that you love?” and he answered “He paints the door.” Surprised at his answer, and trying not to laugh, I asked “What else does he do?” Bridger replied, “He…(sniffle)..mows (sniffle) da yawn.” Then, I heard Carter screaming from his room. I got up from Bridger’s bed, went to Carter’s room and opened the door to see one of his legs sticking through the slats of his crib, jerking violently. Somehow he had stuck his foot through the slats then turned his leg so he was unable to get it back out again, so he was stuck all the way up to his thigh. I gently maneuvered his foot out, and of course, as soon as it was free, Carter jumped up and held up his arms while sobbing. I picked him up and hugged him, tried to calm him down, picked up his bottle and carried them both to the kitchen so I could fill up his bottle again and put him back down. After doing that, I heard Bridger crying for his daddy again. I went back to his opened door, peeked in, and he looked up at me and sobbed, “Wet!” I looked at the puddle on the sheets beneath him and then remembered that I had forgotten to make him go potty before giving him his nap. With both children still sobbing and screaming I decided to abort the naptime mission. We got Bridger cleaned up, changed his sheets, and then decided to go to the store instead, which wasn't necessarily a less chaotic activity, but it cheered us all up anyway.
-Carter can’t talk yet, but he is learning a little bit of sign language. Over the last few days, Carter has learned how to say “dog,” “All done,” “baby” and “fish” in sign language. It is adorable to see him proudly smile each time he successfully makes a sign that I can recognize.
And most rewarding of all…
-After playing with some pots and pans on the kitchen floor, Bridger stood up, smiled at me and then said “I love you!” then began dancing around the kitchen while repeating it over and over in his sweet, musical, sing-song voice “I love you! I love you! I love you!” Suddenly, wet beds and aborted naptimes don’t seem so bad anymore, and I understand why parents do what they do day in and day out. :-)
