Big Sister for a Day

Rachel and I spent the day babysitting Finn. He's about 6 months younger than Rachel and they have a lot of fun together. Melissa wanted to attend a lecture Patrick was giving, but didn't want to take Finn along for the 6 hour excursion. I can't say that I blame her because I wouldn't want to take a baby to school, either.

We had a lot of fun. It was hard on Rachel to be the "older" child--she rebelled by peeing on the floor (more than once)--but she did a great job overall.

For some reason I brought a book along. You know, in case they both decided to be angels and nap at the same time or play so nicely together that they didn't need me to separate them every few minutes, or something like that. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't read a word.

Finn and Rachel are about the same size and it's hard for Rachel to understand how it is that Finn is so much younger than she is. She likes to try to "ride" him when he's crawling; she just walks up and hops on him like he's her own personal rocking horse. He ends up squished to the floor, squirming underneath her weight while she sits there wondering why her ride ended.

"Rachel," I say, "Get off him! He's only a baby."

Before she gets off she looks up at me like, "But, mom!"

And then Finn will use her to pull himself back up and they'll both end up toppling over because, you know, they're about the same size. I know Finn's only a baby but I still try to be fair so I say,

"Finn, don't use Rachel to pull up on."

But I think she can tell I'm not actually reprimanding him and she gives me a face that says so.

And then he gouges her face and she gouges him back. And I say, "Rachel, you know better than that! Play nice! Finn, we don't pinch faces." Then Rachel gives me a look that says, "He started it! Why are you getting more upset at me?"

And then I feel guilty and start a monologue like this, "The answer is, Rachel, I don't know. Because you're 6 months older and therefore shouldn't pinch faces. But you're still a baby, too. I don't know where to draw the line. Just don't pinch faces and no one needs to get in trouble. How about that?"

And that's how my day went. It was interspersed with sweet moments where we all played together--we did a lot of running up and down the hall. Finn and Rachel both thought it was a hilarious game and we played it for a long time. I hope the downstairs neighbours don't send hate mail to the Masons.

Rachel and Finn also had a whole lot of fun with the walker. They were both pushing it at the same time and, although I reminded Rachel that Finn is slower than she is, Rachel ended up dragging Finn along. He wouldn't let go, though, and just let her pull him all around the house on his knees.

We played the piano. I tried playing some Christmas carols because I haven't played the piano in forever...but I ended up with Rachel on my lap taking over Middle C while Finn monopolized the lower half of the piano and I was stuck with about an octave up at the top. Our piano playing didn't last long.

When we were done with that Finn and Rachel were both acting a little sleepy. And I hadn't fed either of them yet, so I got Finn's bottle warmed up and started feeding him. Unfortunately there's little else better at making your own baby jealous than to hold a different baby. Especially when you're rocking them and feeding them at the same time.

Rachel went ballistic.

I paused Finn's feeding, which he was not happy about, and got Rachel a cup of water, which she was not happy about. Then we all climbed back onto the rocking chair and I held both babies in the crook of my arm, holding their bottles/cups haphazardly in their mouths. For a while I thought they were both going to fall asleep.

But they didn't. After they were finished drinking they got down and played for a while more. When I started seeing yawns and the fights were getting closer and closer together I decided it had to be nap time for one of them.

Neither Rachel or Finn, however, are very good nappers.

So I took my chances. I put Rachel in the playpen and told her it was nap time, and then I started rocking Finn to sleep, with his lovie and soother. Rachel screamed for a while, but then settled down to play with the toys in the playpen. Finn, however, soon drifted off, and I was left with the dilemma of what, exactly, to do with him since his playpen was occupied.

I ended up just putting him on the floor while I got Rachel out of his playpen--she wasn't going to fall asleep. We decided just to leave him there because he looked pretty comfortable. So Rachel and I had quiet time and Finn napped.

And the day went on from there.

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but I certainly am glad that I don't have two kids yet.

Rachel and I stayed for dinner, so it was past 6:30 when I left to walk home. By the time we got home Rachel had fallen asleep. She didn't wake up when I carried her up the stairs. She didn't wake up when I put her on the floor to change her into a diaper/jammies. She didn't wake up when I put her to bed. Being a big sister really wore her out!

The Schillings came over to babysit her...and she slept the whole time they were here. She's still asleep. I figure 7:00 is a fine time for her to go to bed, especially if she isn't going to nap and be super-duper grumpy. It's only an hour earlier than her usual bedtime. I just hope she sleeps through the night.