Super Muggle!

Today I felt a little bit like Super Mom. Ok, so maybe a lot. But before I can tell my story, I need to give introductions. For those of you who don't know, I have two daughters, Kahmylia who is 5 and Brisa who is 4. Today I was babysitting for a friend. I've been babysitting their son once a week since he was 4 months old. Ivan is now 2. Babysitting my kids and Ivan isn't all that impressive, but then another friend called and asked for a favor. He's a stay at home dad and he was in a bind, because he had a previous engagement and no child care. He has Anna who is 4, and Ada who is 6 months. So of course, I said yes. Evidently I wasn't really thinking about the fact that that is 5 kids under 5 all at the same time. I didn't consider that Ivan, the overactive toddler, would be screaming his head off 78% of the time and that he would be totally fascinated with another baby in the house. Or that he would be incessantly asking me, "Who is that, Ewa?" "Baby Ada? Baby Ada? Baby Ada? (never ending echo) It occurred to me, after the fact of course, that Anna and Ada live in a relatively silent home, compared to the frequent screaming, the sounds of plastic toys and race cars bulldozing over wood floors, and the never ending questions and constant repetitions of the two year old at my friend's house. "He hit me, Ewa! He hit my hair, Ewa!" (loudly referring to Ada)

Needless to say, Ada, the hungry and sleepy infant, refused to eat or sleep for the 2 hours we were there. It's amazing she was as happy as she was, especially considering the situation. Fortunately, my girls and Anna hadn't seen each other for a while so they mostly entertained themselves. At one point, I left the girls and Ivan in the kitchen eating lunch, because I was trying to give Ada a less distracting environment to take her bottle. It wasn't working too well, because Ivan was screaming at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason, and Kahmylia was yelling, "MOM, Ivan's being loud!" Too which Ivan's response was to come flying into the living room to say to me, "Ewa, I'm being loud, OK?" Oh, by the way, Ivan calls me Mommy when the girls are around, so he repeats everything they say to me. So out of the five kids, one was on my hip and three of them were calling me mommy! I remember thinking to myself, "Is this what it would be like to have more kids?"

It was quite a day, but I felt so blessed to have work, and so privileged to spend time with kids that I love and who love me! So, now I'll close with just one final story...

So, once I was done watching Ivan, the girls and I walked the 6 blocks back to my house. Ada in a stroller and the rest of us on foot. I overheard a priceless conversation that I just can't resist sharing.

Brisa: Oh Anna, when you get to our house, you are going to love it! We changed the living room and it is so beautiful! And we have a new teapot for tea and coffee!

Anna: And when we get to your house, we can play a beautiful game of house! And I can be the mommy, and Brisa can be the baby sister, and Kahmylia can be the father!

Kahmylia: No, I think I wanna be the daughter, because I don't wanna be the father.

Brisa: Let's just pretend he's dead.

Anna: Yeah, ok, he got killed by the monster.

It's a good thing, I'm a Super Muggle, or I might have collapsed right in the middle of the street!