Adventures in Babysitting, Part I
This was the week of keeping children alive and safe for money.

Monday was the S. Family (they are not relatives, and thus I'll be keeping their name private, cause I'm paranoid like that). These four (YEAH, FOUR) children are beautiful kids. Sun-bleached blond hair on all of them, skin that hits that nice healthy tan shade and never deviates, big blue eyes(except the youngest). The oldest boy has freckles. Girls are going to love him when he grows into what will undoubtedly be a surfer-boy look. He's in 7th grade. His little brother is in 3rd, little sister is in kindergarten, and the baby with the big brown eyes is two. The little guy isn't talking yet, for whatever reasons, he can mostly convey what he wants with almost-words, and spends the rest of his time looking adorable playing with balls and trucks and toy boats.

The surprise was an extra kid on Monday. Their cousin slept over. Upside - she's a girl, so the sister had another female to play with, and they mostly kept to themselves, pampering their American GIrls. Downside? Special dietary needs! No dairy and no gluten of any kind. That was fun.

I had promised them a trip to the library last week, so the mom left the keys to their suburban. This thing is a tank. It was like driving the Titanic. If the parking lot hadn't been mostly empty there might have been a real problem. The kids were great at the library, they were quiet and didn't run, went about looking for something to read. The oldest made me smile by getting a book I said was good, I hope he likes it. Little guy picked up two storybooks, put them on the table and started playing with blocks. Then he decided to embiggen his mind by selecting a hefty nonfiction work about the history of American Indians. This also went on the table, next to the blocks. I was highly amused. Checkout almost went smoothly, until the tiny one decided to make a dash for the sunshine, through the automatic doors which of course slid open for him. I had to bolt after him with unchecked library books and returned with him under one arm to the laughter of the watching librarians. Comparisons to Olympic Sprinting abounded.

Things almost went smoothly after that. The tiny one went down for his nap, the other kids ate without fighting, then the middle brother decided to invade his sister's personal space. I found this out when she came running outside crying because his entrance into her room prompted a fight that turned physical. Brought her into the living room with him, and asked why he had gone into her room where he had no reason to be, he response was precious: he went in there to help them with their dolls (her: WE DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!), and also to open the blinds, because her light was on, and that wastes energy. Swear to god, he said this to me with a straight face. Loathe as I am to punish someone for their (totally bogus) environmentally friendly intentions, he got a nice 30 minute time out on the chair. I also made him look me in the eye when I told him that when he gets bored, he should bother me, and stay away from the girls.

I feel for the kid, he's stuck in the middle between a talented big brother, an adorable baby brother, and the only girl. He hasn't found his niche yet, and until he does, he just gets in everyone else's business.

The day ended with everyone settling down to watch a movie (The Game Plan, oh Dwayne Johnson, really?) and doing a quick 5-minute clean-up of the house without complaint. I am also awesome, because I made them fruit smoothies twice.