Mission: Accomplished

For 24 hours, I babysat Brian and Kari's three boys. Jaxon and Kaden are four year old twins and Conner is 18 months old. The twins have a reputation of being very 'active'. Add an 18 month old and an 11 month old (Clara) and I'm pretty sure you can understand why I was a wee bit nervous since I knew I'd be alone most of the time. Kari's main request was that I just keep them alive. Friday was fine and wasn't too bad until bedtime. Jason was there, so I assumed it wouldn't be bad. But, during the five minutes I was trying to get the three boys in bed so I could feed Clara, Jason had to use the restroom. Funny how that happens. I eventually got the boys ready for bed and fed Clara. She cried when I put her in the crib, but not for long. About thirty minutes after she stopped crying, she made some more noise, but then went to bed. I haven't been real successful at getting her to sleep other places since we've stopped letting her have her pacifier. After all the kids were in bed I didn't want to do anything but sit. I told Jason by the time we have four kids, I need a maid. I didn't care what the house looked like, I just wanted to sit! Oh, and remember, this was after only about five hours, not even a full day. Soon after I was on my own, the older boys decided they'd try to hide from me under these baskets... So meet Kaden...and Jaxon...

We didn't get up until after 700 am, so that was good. We just played and had a wonderful day. The kids play so well and they are fortunate to have a nice big yard with fun toys to utilize their energy. They call their big toys they climb on 'parks'. They have three swings, which was great until Clara woke up from her nap. Jaxon could never get high enough for his satisfaction and Kaden did not want to go high at all. I was intrigued by how very different the twins are. I mostly was just entertained all day by the funny things the twins said. They were absolutely amused every time I fed Clara and were so inquisitive as to what food she was eating. They kept telling me they wanted to watch him (yes him, meaning Clara - no feminine pronouns in their vocabulary) drink. Kaden loved Clara and liked to hug her and play with her. He watched me kissing her head and told me he wanted to kiss the baby.

Hmm, can't imagine what Clara is planning on doing with this rock after she thoroughly examines it. She kept putting the rocks in her mouth and I kept telling her no and moving her hand. Well, the twins decided they'd help me out and every time she'd start to put a rock in her mouth, they'd say, "No! Don't eat it!" After about two or three times, Clara must've got her feelings hurt and she just started crying and crying. I told her it wasn't safe to eat rocks and they were just trying to help her be safe. It is funny how saying things to a baby in a certain way can make them so sad!Some of my favorite quotes/conversations:

Kaden to me: "I love your daddy." (meaning Clara's daddy: Jason)

Jaxon after washing the blood off his owie: "See! Look! It feels better."
Jaxon when his sore started bleeding again and looking very concerned: "Ooooh, look, it hurts again."

Kaden: "Draw a dinosaur" ... "Let's call it the daddy" ... "I want you to draw a baby dinosaur"... "I know, let's call it Little Foot" ... after I drew the third one: "Let's call that one mommy"

Anna, as I'm drawing the fourth dinosaur: "Let's draw another small dinosaur and call it Kaden"

Kaden: "No, let's call it annuder Little Foot."

Anna: "Okay, let's draw another baby and call it Jaxon."

Kaden: "No, let's call it annuder Little Foot."

During lunch we had a conversation about why too much sugar is bad for you and when Kaden asked if he could have a second cookie Jaxon said, "No, cookies have sugar in them."

Kaden after drawing an 'X' in the dirt: "X marks the spot."

Anna: "What spot?"

Kaden: "The one where the treasure is."
Anna: "Ooooh, what's in the treasure?"
Kaden: "Gold."

Anna: "Quick, dig it up!"

Kaden: "Okay." Kaden then asked if we could dig a "deep deep deep deep ... (three minutes later)... deep hole like the Higgly's (a cartoon?) did. I told them they probably had special powers to help, but they said they didn't. Anyway, Kaden went and got the shovel and let Jaxon do all the digging.

Anna: "Guess who just called? Grandma and Grandpa Mills."
Kaden, ecstatic: "Oh, I LOVE them!"

Kaden when we were playing hide-n-seek and I found him: "Oh, I thought you were my daddy."
Anna: "Really? Does your daddy have long hair?"
Kaden: "No, I just see his face." (aww, how sweet)

There were two jets doing like a mini air show that I watched as I pushed the kids on the swings. It was pretty cool so I tried to get the boys to watch and they weren't all that interested. But one of them, I think it was Kaden, after staring at the jets in the sky said, "I can see sparkles!" Ha, from it being bright out, he could see the spots and called them sparkles.

Kaden, showing me Conner's blanket with brown cow spots printed on it: "Conner's blanket has poop on it."

There were so many more but I just can't think of them. I need to get a tape recorded and just record everything my kids say. They come up with the funniest things and are so unique.

The twins aren't all that different than other four year old boys so I don't have much to complain about! Don't get me wrong, it is different and more work than one kid, but you don't have to have four kids or any kids at all to be aware of the obvious. They are very busy, but I am used to that. If someone wasn't around a lot of kids or boys, they might think they are too active, but boys are boys. Conner is just a calm little kid, so that helped out too. It's funny how much more pride I have in making breakfast or getting the dishwasher loaded while taking care of four kids. The small accomplishments must get more and more significant in a mother's eyes with each kid she has! I felt pretty good when all four kids were dressed for the day. :) As for my mission to keep the kiddos alive? Accomplished.