It's All Relative

Four years ago, I was asked to babysit for Grandbaby No. 1, one day each week. While I was sooooooo excited, I began to wonder...Am I up for this? Would I remember anything about taking care of babies?

Our babysitting days were Tuesdays, and each one was exhausting! When the day with Eliana ended around 4:30 or 5, I was comatose. On Wednesday, I could hardly move. My knees were sore, my back hurt, my arms throbbed.

Once Ethan, Eliana’s younger brother, was just over one year old, I was asked, “Will you babysit for the 2 kids?” I thought OMG, is this going to be possible? One child was a lot. Would my body survive? Would we be able to give each attention and meet their individual needs?

I said “Yes, of course,” but these concerns swirled around my head.

I summoned a wonderful Mother’s Helper for extra support those first couple of months of this new arrangement, certain that two kids meant at least two sets of eyes and ears were optimal to ensure that I’d be returning the kids intact, with no scratches or horror stories to be told to the parents.

On my feet all day long, continually getting snacks/meals, changing diapers or hanging out in the bathroom, playing with puzzles and other games, switching the remote from the Descendants 2 to Mickey Mouse Club to the Descendants 3, picking up one and then the other and trying periodically to do both, I began to realize just how easy one kid had been, which of course I did not realize at the time.

Just as I was settling in with the two, our youngest grandchild May and her family came to stay with us for a few weeks. Although I had volunteered to babysit and wanted very much to do it, there was a component of this plan that impacted me in a familiar way: how would Tuesday madness play out?

Contemplating three kids, two kids no longer seemed so tricky.  

It just so happened that I was telling a girlfriend about the challenge ahead for my Tuesday tripleheader, and she said, “I will come help you!” I had no shame in taking her up on her very kind offer. Even with her assistance, three seemed like a lot to manage, although I admit I was loving it at the same time.

Their stay with us is coming to an end and, as much as it has been chaotic to be responsible for the three at one time, I found myself wishing that Zoey, Grandbaby No. 3, was here too. She’d have had such fun getting in on the action with her cousins and I’d have loved being surrounded by all of four of our delicious grandbabies.