Babysitting

Yesterday Dashiell and I had the privilege of babysitting his friend Crispin for a couple of hours while his mom (the fabulous Meghan Moore of Megpix Photography) had to work. Dashiell thought it was great fun to have his friend over, although he was a little miffed that C's mom didn't stay longer, and asked for her a couple of times right after she left. I think Crispin missed his mom too much to have as good of a time as Dashiell did (he said all of about 2 words the whole 2 hours he was over), but the boys played pretty well together regardless.

Dashiell's pretty good about sharing his toys, though we did have one instance of "MINE!" that got a little hairy. Dashiell picked out his Simpson's school bus to play with, set it down for a second, and instantly Crispin grabbed it! I asked Dashiell if it was okay if Crispin played with the bus for a bit, and he could have it back in a few minutes, but Dashiell wasn't having any of that! His eyes welled up with tears and he kept saying "Dashiell's bus!", so I tried to ask Crispin if Dash could have it back. He just stood there, holding the bus, not playing with it but guarding it with all his might. As I mentioned earlier, he was wordless that day so he didn't say no but he definitely didn't say yes either. So I suggested that maybe Dashiell could play with Crispin's puppy until C was done with the bus, and Crispin immediately grabbed his puppy as if he were saving it from a fate worse than death! I then tried distracting Dashiell by asking if he wanted to play with his zoo with me, to no avail. More tears, more frustration. Finally I asked Crispin if he wanted to play in Dashiell's Cozy Coupe, and when he started walking toward the car I told him he could only play in the car if he gave Dashiell the bus. Finally he handed it over! The lure of the car was too great! Dirty trick? Maybe, but it worked. :)

It was a bit challenging to make dinner while two active toddlers were running around the house, especially since we have an old colonial-style house that is anything but an open design--if I'm in the kitchen I can't see what's going on in the living room at all! Plus we've got doors between the rooms, which little guys can't help but want to shut. Hard. While other little guys are right there with them. I was amazed (and thankful!) that neither of them got their fingers crushed. I was able to distract them from the doors for a little while by asking them to help make dinner (Dashiell said they were making "sauce"--he must have gotten that from his Nana Hanson!), but it was short-lived.

The 2 hours Crispin was with us passed super-fast! I couldn't believe it when it was almost time to bring him home. He is welcome to come over and play with us anytime! I only hope the next time Crispin visits he feels up to chatting a little more. :)