Babysitting 101
Last Saturday, Michael & I babysat for the 1st time. Jake asked us earlier during the week if we could watch his 2 super cute, super active bubbly kids - Harrison who's 4 and his sister Avah, 2. Anthea (Jake's wife) was away for Saturday and he's got a last minute invitation to watch rugby in a corporate box that he didnt wanna miss. As it was last minute, all of their usual babysitters (parents & in-laws) have already made plans. Harrison also happens to be Michael's godson so when Jake ran out of options, we happily & nervously accepted.
I didn't think i would be nervy actually but i was. I thought since Ive got LOADS of nieces & nephews, this shouldn't be that hard! But then i remembered all those times that i was looking after them, the helper's always around! :p And it's a bit different here cos im still struggling with their OZ baby 'pelat' accent, especially with lil Avah. Also to me, eventho we're good friends, it's jz not the same as family, u know? For example, you can comfortably yell at your niece or nephew (not that i do, hehehe) but im not actually sure how to or if i even should be firm to other people's kids cos u normally jz hand them over to the parents when they start to scream. :p
Michael was equally nervous. He's great around kids and my nieces & nephews adore him. But i guess he's nervous about being responsible for them both and having them from 3.30pm till 9pm - which, according to Thea, is their most crucial time ie. more tantrums and needing extra attention.
To tackle this, Michael suggested the 'divide & conquer' method. He'd focus on H and me on Avah and our strategy is to wear them out that they'll be tired and sleepy really early, there's no time to throw tanties.
So i packed up some fruits, turkish bread and hommus dips (Avah LOVES dips, my effort to entice her :p), NO sugar products as we've seen what they're capable of whenever they get sweet treats every now and then. We got there at 3.30 and Jake was getting ready to leave. Soon after, we got them geared & ready and took their bike & scooter to the nearby park. To be honest, i was already tired from just pushing Avah on the bike to get to the park which was just 3 mins from their house. They started off happily sharing & exchanging their bike & scooter circling around the area. Then we played a bit at the playground, making sure that they went up the stairs & down the slides multiple times! Then we had them digging holes & building castles on the pile of sand that they have at the park.
We went home at 5.30ish when it started to get dark. Michael got dinner ready while they snacked on my fruits, bread & dips. He also brought heaps of recycled papers from work for them to do some drawing/coloring while waiting for dinner. But we couldnt find their crayons/pencils that Michael started making paper hats & planes etc. I think that lasted for about 10 minutes cos the kids were getting restless & hungry. They had their dinner with no drama then i bathed them (which was such a mission!), gave their bedtime milko, had Stuart Little on TV and by 8pm, they've both fallen asleep!! It was pretty hard work, i dunno how people do it EVERYDAY! But we did have fun. At the end of the day, when Avah didnt let go of my finger while she was falling asleep and when they both wrapped their arms around Michael when he carried them to bed, we agreed that that felt pretty amazing. :) I want one too!!
Anyways, on Sunday we jz chilled at home and i decided we should reward ourselves with a 3 course meal for dinner. Started off with bruschetta (using turkish bread, im soo addicted to this bread now, soo yum!), then i made roast beef (the one that i was proud of the 1st time) and Sara Lee Blueberry Danish with custard for dessert!
It was a very satisfying dinner indeed!! (ive got pix this time!)
I didn't think i would be nervy actually but i was. I thought since Ive got LOADS of nieces & nephews, this shouldn't be that hard! But then i remembered all those times that i was looking after them, the helper's always around! :p And it's a bit different here cos im still struggling with their OZ baby 'pelat' accent, especially with lil Avah. Also to me, eventho we're good friends, it's jz not the same as family, u know? For example, you can comfortably yell at your niece or nephew (not that i do, hehehe) but im not actually sure how to or if i even should be firm to other people's kids cos u normally jz hand them over to the parents when they start to scream. :p
Michael was equally nervous. He's great around kids and my nieces & nephews adore him. But i guess he's nervous about being responsible for them both and having them from 3.30pm till 9pm - which, according to Thea, is their most crucial time ie. more tantrums and needing extra attention.
To tackle this, Michael suggested the 'divide & conquer' method. He'd focus on H and me on Avah and our strategy is to wear them out that they'll be tired and sleepy really early, there's no time to throw tanties.
So i packed up some fruits, turkish bread and hommus dips (Avah LOVES dips, my effort to entice her :p), NO sugar products as we've seen what they're capable of whenever they get sweet treats every now and then. We got there at 3.30 and Jake was getting ready to leave. Soon after, we got them geared & ready and took their bike & scooter to the nearby park. To be honest, i was already tired from just pushing Avah on the bike to get to the park which was just 3 mins from their house. They started off happily sharing & exchanging their bike & scooter circling around the area. Then we played a bit at the playground, making sure that they went up the stairs & down the slides multiple times! Then we had them digging holes & building castles on the pile of sand that they have at the park.
We went home at 5.30ish when it started to get dark. Michael got dinner ready while they snacked on my fruits, bread & dips. He also brought heaps of recycled papers from work for them to do some drawing/coloring while waiting for dinner. But we couldnt find their crayons/pencils that Michael started making paper hats & planes etc. I think that lasted for about 10 minutes cos the kids were getting restless & hungry. They had their dinner with no drama then i bathed them (which was such a mission!), gave their bedtime milko, had Stuart Little on TV and by 8pm, they've both fallen asleep!! It was pretty hard work, i dunno how people do it EVERYDAY! But we did have fun. At the end of the day, when Avah didnt let go of my finger while she was falling asleep and when they both wrapped their arms around Michael when he carried them to bed, we agreed that that felt pretty amazing. :) I want one too!!
Anyways, on Sunday we jz chilled at home and i decided we should reward ourselves with a 3 course meal for dinner. Started off with bruschetta (using turkish bread, im soo addicted to this bread now, soo yum!), then i made roast beef (the one that i was proud of the 1st time) and Sara Lee Blueberry Danish with custard for dessert!
It was a very satisfying dinner indeed!! (ive got pix this time!)
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