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Sep. 8th, 2004
check the baby!
Sep. 8th, 2004 08:05 pmTonight I am babysitting Baby I. Despite my best efforts, the little one fell asleep about ten minutes after his parents left, and refused to play or giggle or perform any cute baby tricks. So I am marking time, and my arms are strangely heavy from holding him so long.
I should be at a local school meeting today. I didn't find out about it until three, however, and I had already promised the Parents that I would come over and let them go out for a much-needed movie. I will not tell my employer this and they will not ask, because they trust me. Sometimes I feel that trust is misplaced. If I were first an employee, and second everything else, then I would have cancelled the sitting date and gone to the meeting. However, I promised my friends, and as I have suddenly realized I desperately need my friends, I could not consider folding on them. I have forgotten the knitting project I was hoping to work on and part of me wants to jaunt home-or make C drive over-and get the yarn. But that would mean some kind of baby stress, and the poor kid is working way harder than any adult I know. He deserves his rest.
Speaking of which--check the baby.
Baby is fine. There's something about him (as a baby, not him particularly) that is soothing because it requires such complete focus. It's meditation through work. However, the very baby-focused brain of mine is slower at doing other things; I haven't even felt the urge to knit, haven't turned the lights on since it got dark, and spent ten minutes grappling with the question--should I take off my shoes? My feet hurt, I'm sprouting a blister, but what if I have to go pick up the baby? What if there's a fire? (That's silly, since there's nothing particularly flammable about a sleeping baby or a proper internet connection.) Finally, I dug up a bandage from the bathroom. I am comfortable and prepared, and inordinately pleased with myself for figuring it out. (Which is obvious, since I'm telling the world about it, isn't it? I'm sure I will be mortified tomorrow at writing all this blither. I'm sober, I promise, I'm just a little disconnected right now.)
This is the Parents' first excursion from the house. They moved recently and haven't made too many friends either, so they took me up on my babysitting offer within a week or two. They were nervous and spent an hour instructing me, which was fortunate since I actually have little experience with infants. I didn't want to tell them that and make them more anxious; they already called once to check on us and let me know that the movie would run a little late, did I mind? I told them no, but I did sorta mind that their son would not wake up and play with me. :(
***
It seems I have so little time lately, and I know that this situation will only get worse over the next twenty-five years. Everything has begun to go faster since July. I wonder if I'll be able to keep up?
(Checking the baby.)
I should be at a local school meeting today. I didn't find out about it until three, however, and I had already promised the Parents that I would come over and let them go out for a much-needed movie. I will not tell my employer this and they will not ask, because they trust me. Sometimes I feel that trust is misplaced. If I were first an employee, and second everything else, then I would have cancelled the sitting date and gone to the meeting. However, I promised my friends, and as I have suddenly realized I desperately need my friends, I could not consider folding on them. I have forgotten the knitting project I was hoping to work on and part of me wants to jaunt home-or make C drive over-and get the yarn. But that would mean some kind of baby stress, and the poor kid is working way harder than any adult I know. He deserves his rest.
Speaking of which--check the baby.
Baby is fine. There's something about him (as a baby, not him particularly) that is soothing because it requires such complete focus. It's meditation through work. However, the very baby-focused brain of mine is slower at doing other things; I haven't even felt the urge to knit, haven't turned the lights on since it got dark, and spent ten minutes grappling with the question--should I take off my shoes? My feet hurt, I'm sprouting a blister, but what if I have to go pick up the baby? What if there's a fire? (That's silly, since there's nothing particularly flammable about a sleeping baby or a proper internet connection.) Finally, I dug up a bandage from the bathroom. I am comfortable and prepared, and inordinately pleased with myself for figuring it out. (Which is obvious, since I'm telling the world about it, isn't it? I'm sure I will be mortified tomorrow at writing all this blither. I'm sober, I promise, I'm just a little disconnected right now.)
This is the Parents' first excursion from the house. They moved recently and haven't made too many friends either, so they took me up on my babysitting offer within a week or two. They were nervous and spent an hour instructing me, which was fortunate since I actually have little experience with infants. I didn't want to tell them that and make them more anxious; they already called once to check on us and let me know that the movie would run a little late, did I mind? I told them no, but I did sorta mind that their son would not wake up and play with me. :(
***
It seems I have so little time lately, and I know that this situation will only get worse over the next twenty-five years. Everything has begun to go faster since July. I wonder if I'll be able to keep up?
(Checking the baby.)