Chronicles of Child Wrangling...

A.K.A. Babysitting...

This evening marks night # 3 of babysitting this summer. I have been babysitting this family since high school. They are probably my favorite kids (two boys - 6 and 3) to watch because they are so easy and fun. They even teach me new things...last year I learned the word "precarious" from the 6 years old...ya I felt dumb...haha.

As many of you know, I am partial to competition...that is I HATE to lose games. Well last week was a lesson in humility. I came over to babysit and the boys had set up Monopoly Jr.

- I know that you should always let the kids win, but unfortunately, my compassion does not reach that far. I once made a boy I was babysitting cry because I destroyed him in his James Bond video game...whoops. -

Anyway, I was feeling good about holding my own in Monopoly Jr. I mean come on, accounting major, 21 yr old. I have plenty of Monopoly experience on them. I've played with Steph Gaskins and Lorraina Armenta for crying out loud. I settled down to take an easy victory.

NOT TRUE

I was wiped out by the 3 year old...ouch. He left me with nothing. Absolutely nothing. Somehow, I'm still not sure how...he got a monopoly on half the board and I consequently landed on ALL his properties. I couldn't even hit the harmless in between "roll again" or "chance" space. Nope I landed on his stinkin' Roller Coaster every single time. His brother even managed to miss it, but not me. Needless to say: I lost in fine fashion.

To rub salt in a festering wound. The 6 year old boy proceeded to construct a comprehensive scoreboard of how the game ended. Not only did he tally how many houses we had on the board and how much money we had left, but he counted who had the most 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s (Monopoly Jr. remember). Each proclamation of "0" sank me deeper and deeper into a pit of shame.

But tonight, they took pity on me and we did art! We made puzzles. No we did not just put them together, but we CRAFTED them - it was all the boys' idea.

Step #1: Draw a picture: I must have missed my calling in life, because here is my masterpiece worthy of an art museum in Paris...
Step #2: Place masking tape on the back to make it more "sturdy"
Step #3: Make a puzzle box
Step #4: Draw puzzle pieces
Step #5: Cut out puzzle pieces
Step #6: Put piece in puzzle box
Step #7: Clean up puzzle pieces after 3 year decides to up-end said puzzle box...

After we made our individual puzzles, the boys wanted to plan out the making of a larger puzzle for my next visit. The 6 year old wanted to brainstorm (mind showers...) some ideas, so naturally, he made me the scribe :) I further shamed myself by trying seven times to write the word "piece". You'd think it wouldn't take so long because there are only so many places the 'i' can go, but no, I managed to try several options multiple times. The boys offered to used a separate piece of paper to cover up my scribbles because of course I used pen, banking on my superior spelling abilities...Once again....pit of shame here I come :)

To top the night off, the 3 year old bit me!! Yup that's right, I was assaulted via the incisors of a child. Wohoo! He was bored with the book we were reading and to get my attention...chomp chomp. As if I hadn't be punctured enough with all the shots I have recently had.

Despite that, I do truly love these boys. They are easy to watch and quite entertaining. However, they do push my physical touch boundaries with all their cuddling :) They are precious!