And so...
Babysitting is just as horrible as I imagined.
Three pre-k kiddos in a split level and the best part is how many stairs I do in a five hour period.
Today, B and A got into a fight over an excavator while A had an uncapped marker and both kiddos look like they got slapped with Smurfs. (B did NOT come out on top in that battle; his shirt is so spotted. He probably deserved it, though. He is deep into his Gremlin Core phase.)
Also, B is banned from interacting with E, the little guy, unless E initiates. B will just run up to E and scream in his face and then laugh and run away while E dissolves into tears. B really is a bastard sometimes.
However! The three yahoos are doing continually better each day. For the most part. Unless J-Dad (A and E's Dad) inflates a river rafting inner-tube and expects it to be shared peacefully between three kiddos. *eyeroll* K-Mom warned him not to, but he laughed it off. Today he admitted it was a bad idea. Lol Ah, parenting.
Also, E, who is almost 3, calls me Mom with Glasses and I love it.
Our visit from Carlton(Zach's dad) went as well as possible. He self-quarantined before visiting us and slept out in his camper. Not that it mattered a lot since B spent as much of his days as possible inside the camper. That kiddo will love camping once we get back to it. Hopefully next summer? Carlton did not bring up politics or covid or anything else controversial and neither did we, so we didn't really talk a whole lot. Hehe. Mostly we dumped B on him and tried to catch naps. Carlton was very sad to leave and told Zach that "he(Carlton) must have done something right as a father since You(Zach) and Dane(Zach's brother) are such great fathers." I can assure you, according to Zach, it's more a matter of 'despite' Carlton as a father, Dane and Zach became great fathers. But B loves the heck outta his Papaw. So we just practice letting it go...*shrug*
I finally got over to Jax's place on Saturday! She's just bought her own house and has really busted buns on the home improvements. It's inspiring. She's let her sister's family stay with her until they can save up for their own place. I suspect it's also so she can play with her niblings whenever she likes because she sure loves those little guys. Oh and her sister too, I guess. ;) It was so great to talk with her. We always connect really well and can talk to each other in bracingly honest ways. Ha ha! She is a treasure.
We also had a visit over to Zach's Mom's place on the mountain on Sunday. Which I was a little bummed to do because I had mentally slated Sunday as a great day to take my motorcycle out, even though I rode my bike to Jax's the previous day. There aren't a lot of nice enough days left. But of course it wasn't a day for me, it was a day for B and Lee-lee and their Noni and Baba. They brought him and her a bunch of gifts and B was in heaven playing with all of them and running around the woods on her property. And I got free ribs and pie out of the deal, so it really wasn't too bad. :)
This week has been kinda blurry. So sleepy. All the time. I have GOT to get these kids on the same dang schedule. I am dying. At least Lee-lee sleeps well through the night now and after a week or so of yucky, screamy, sleep training, she is going to sleep on her own fairly well! I wish we'd had the fortitude to do this with B. He still needs someone to stay in his room while he falls asleep and it's not ideal. I am hopeful though, that watching A and E go to sleep on their own will inspire him to do the same. He mostly did it today at nap time. So I'll keep pushing it and maybe I can actually have some time back!
So let's see, coming up this weekend is tentative plans with friends tomorrow. An al fresco dinner in our backyard (note to self, pick up dog poop tomorrow morning.) with socially distanced tables and such.
Saturday I am angling for a motorcycle ride, or maybe a visit up to Mom at the cemetery, depending on the weather. I was thinking that a picnic up there would be nice and there is plenty of space to run for the kiddo. And not a lot of people, as you might imagine.
(side story: We found a place to access the Spokane River from the other side of the same cemetery and it was delightfully deserted. Granted, it wasn't lovely beaches, or even gravelly beaches. Just rocks. Lots of dangerous rocks. But still, it was a nice walk and the river was peaceful. )
Sunday is possible visits out to Rockford to visit a long time friend who is of the immune-compromised variety. Debating whether to ride the bike and winterize it after or take the baby, maybe both kiddos, for a change of scenery and so my friend can see Lee-lee again. She hasn't seen her since her baby shower after she was born. And my friend was one of our doulas for the birth. She is a rock star person and a wonderful doula and mother. I hit her up for all the kid advice I can't suss out on the interwebs. I'm leaning towards just the bike and myself though, because we can definitely get more chats in that way. lol
Well, off to get some food in me before both these hooligans wake up.