Babysitting

Last night my friend M. asked us to babysit so she & her husband can go out & celebrate their anniversary. So K & I got to experience what it feels like to have a house full of kids for one evening(baby LouLou, her brother & her sister).

They need so much attention!

The brother & the sister fight with each other all the time. And it looks so dangerous. I mean the kid gets up on the couch & jumps on his sister's back! I don't understand how their parents managed to keep them from killing or seriously injuring each other all these years. I mean I was in a constant state of panic until K got home & at least there were two of us so he took the girl to the playground up on the roof while I was playing Nintendo with the boy until he was ready to go to bed. Then I called K & told him he could bring the girl back now. It was the most effective peace-keeping we could think of. God knows am not new to sibling rivalry but these kids are vicious!

Poor litte LouLou was largely ignored all this time because like a perfect little angel, she peacefully slept through all the racket. What this meant of course was that just as we managed to get her brother & sister to finally go to sleep, she was up & raring to go.

Couldn't get her to eat at all even though she was crying & I knew she had to be hungry. Don't know what I was doing wrong but K managed to convince her in the end. I think he was sending out fewer stress signals or something so she relaxed in his arms, stopped crying & let me feed her.

Me: You know strictly speaking I don't think you should be holding that kid without your shirt on. I think it can be considered child molestation.
Him: Look if you want it just say so. Ya3ni you don't have to get jealous of a toddler.
Me: Haha. You wish. I am just worried about her mental well-being.
Him: Mental well-being eh? Look at her. She's comfortable.
Me: I know. Was just picking on you. Did you think I was really jealous of her?
Him: Ya 7abibit albi ana 3arif in inti 3arfa inik mish mi7taga tigheeri min 7ad khalis. Da ana koli leeki. Inti to2mori bas.(Basically he's saying that he knows that I know I don't need to get jealous of anyone because he's all mine.)
Me: You mean I don't need to worry about being dumped for a blonde nurse in a short uniform?
Him: Ikhsa 3laiki. Ikhs. Ana a3mil kida bardu? Bilzima mish maksoofa min nafsik?(Shame on you(for thinking that). Aren't you ashamed of yourself?)
Me: Tayeb khalas if you're sure then am sorry.
Him: Ba3dain aslan the uniforms are not that short.

I gave him a dirty look, refused to dignify that with an answer & continued to feed the baby. Who chose this exact instant to start happily sucking her thumb - refusing to take a single spoonful more from me.

Me: She won't eat. She's sucking her thumb.

He was trying to gently pull her thumb out of her mouth. She was vehement that this was a BAD IDEA. And expressed herself very loudly. But he kept holding her hand away from her mouth. I can't bear it when babies cry. I just want to give them what they want. They sound so much in distress & coming from such a little, fragile-looking being, it makes me feel like a heartless monster if I don't just give them anything they want.

Me: You're making her cry.
Him: She'll ruin her jaw.
Me: 7abibi tonight you're not the dentist. You're the babysitter. Try to adjust will you? The idea is to keep her quiet.
Him: Stop nagging. She'll quiet down in a second.

And she did. So we managed to finish feeding her. Of course she got the food all over the two of us but we didn't mind. Getting her to finish her food was like winning a contest or something. Especially because I knew that M. was always complaining that she can't get LouLou to eat & she has to chase her all over the house etc...We didn't have to chase her. It didn't take all day. It took about half an hour. And apart from the thumb-sucking incident she didn't cry at all. So I think we did pretty well actually if I do say so myself.

M. & her husband showed up to pick up the kids pretty late but it was ok. I offered to do it & I knew they'd be out pretty late. The poor girl can't find a decent maid/babysitter who won't go out with her bf as soon as M & her husband leave the house in the morning, leaving LouLou by herself. She's changed maids 3 times since she went back to work. I just thought they deserved a break for their anniversary. Especially given how supportive she was when I needed it.

Last night gave me a lot of food for thought. But it's not going to be consumed today because we hardly got any sleep last night so am too exhausted to think this morning.

I like seeing him with kids. Just one thought to register quickly. And now I'd better get back to work.