Three Children For a Day

Well today was a busy one. My friend Katie, who just had a baby and who now has three children under the age of 4, asked me if I would watch her older children while she went to an appointment today. I love to help out my friends who need someone to pitch in every now and again with their children. I feel I've been blessed to be so flexible in working from home and of course, to just have the one child right now.

So anyway, she dropped off the kids, her boy who is Kaydn Rye's age (3) and her two-year-old little girl. They played, they fought, they played some more, the two-year-old put the dog food in Gertie's water bowl, they ran around the perimeter of the fence outside looking for holes to climb out of, then they ate chicken nuggets, fruit and yogurt, watched a movie, and went home. And I can't help the fact that I have to follow them around everywhere to avoid the constant wonder about what they're touching, what they're getting into, what they may be breaking or what kind of disarray they may be creating.

So needless to say, while they are all very well-behaved little children and while they play well together, whenever my friends' children come over, it only verifies why I only have the one child at this time.

Because of my super-anal tendencies, having the one was mind-boggling enough for me. And I am blessed that Kaydn Rye has inherited those same super-anal tendencies. Or maybe I've forced them upon him, I don't know, but I'm thankful nonetheless.
Like at lunch time for instance, normally Kaydn puts on his bib, grabs a napkin and sits down to eat, all the while wiping his hands off as he gets crumbs or stickiness on them. When he's finished he then walks into the bathroom and washes his hands. We usually have a nice, orderly meal together.

But today, thought she is the sweetest little child, the two-year-old girl is a hoot at lunchtime. Yogurt, ketchup, ranch dressing, you name it, she scoops it up with her fingers and shoves it in her mouth, all the while I'm frantically hovering over her with a washcloth the whole time wiping her fingers before she can touch anything in my house.

So yes, I am one of those mothers - you find them at social functions spoon feeding and hovering over their children to avoid any kind of spills, stickiness, or yuckiness of any kind on their children, their clothes or the floor.

Actually, at my grandpa's funeral a couple of weeks ago, the church had a luncheon for us afterward. And when we go places I don't bring bibs anymore, Kadyn Rye will just take a napkin and neatly fold it into his shirt. He won't even begin to eat without something around his neck to catch his food so it doesn't get him "all yucky."

And after lunch, when the dessert tray came around, he wanted the gooiest, chocolatiest (is that a word?) brownie on the tray. But he didn't want to pick it up, he wanted me to feed it to him. So I proceeded to feed him the brownie off of my fork, bit by bit, as he wiped his mouth in between bites. My cousin, who was sitting behind me and apparently people-watching us, said, "Kate, I can not believe that you are just feeding that to him, he's a big boy now."

I said, "He asked me to feed it to him. Is that so wrong?" Apparently she found it even more disturbing that he actually asked me to feed it to him. But this is coming from the boy who, when he falls, screams not because he's hurt but because he's all dirty.

But I admit, I have a problem, and I am working on it. And the funny thing is, when Kaydn went to bed tonight, after I told him about another couple we know who is having a baby, he said, "Yeah, and Gary has a baby too."

I said, "Yep, Gary has a baby brother now, doesn't he?"

Kaydn replied, "Yeah, and I need to get my baby sister now too."

This comes after the remarks his father makes everytime we pass the baby section at Super-Walmart. That conversation usually goes something like, "Kaydn Rye, this is for your baby sister isn't it."

Kaydn replies, "Oh yeah, can I have my baby sister now."

Daddy replies, "Well, you'll have to ask your mom."