Saturday

I went home and started to do my chores, and got a call to babysit. So I accepted because I need to moola for Chicago, and got picked up at 11:30 to babysit til 3 for a 3-4 year old and a 12-18 month old. It was....okay. Well, at first I couldn't get Aviva out of her highchair, because you put the tray on top of the seat and then have to remove it to get the baby out. But surprisingly, saying 'It's okay' and playing peek-a-boo worked like a charm while I attempted to figure out one of my life's mysteries - how to remove the stupid tray from the high chair. So I did, then we went off to find Max, who had been playing in the basement. Not surprisingly, they have a problem with sharing with each other, which I should have seen coming but I didn't. I realized that it seemed like I was taking Aviva's side and I always hated when my parents did that to me and my brothers, so I suggested playing on of Max's favorite games - hide and go seek. After that, Max played 'let's see what will happen if I do everything my mom told the babysitter I couldn't do'. He started playing with this microphone thing and turned it up really loud and got Aviva crying, and tried watching TV and we played the 'you push the on button I'll push it again to turn it off' game, until he finally gave up. Then it was time for his nap, and he wouldn't sit up on the bed, he wanted to sit up his headboard. Since Max was doing it, Aviva of course wanted to. I read them some stories, then for his last story he picked on of those things were it's not a real story, just these flaps you lift up and slide to see more of the picture. Aviva was all over that. Then Aviva wanted to leave, but I couldn't let her wander the house alone while I tried to passively force Max into sleepy-land. So then Max declares he'll open the door for her. I told him Aviva needed her nap too, so I brought her downstairs and got her a bottle and milk, and found Max just sitting on the stairs when I started to go up them. I told him Aviva needed to be rocked (which was true, I wasn't improvising) and that he needed to at least be in his room reading or playing or something. So I took my time rocking Aviva to sleep, just like she took her time getting tired, and then she started crying, but her mom had said she would and that she would lie down and be asleep in a couple minutes. And then Max was missing. This was not a good situation. There was a lake in the backyard, a million hiding spots, an accessible stove and fride, the garage door was open. I called my mom in a panic, and he did show himself, and then of course refused to take a nap. We talked about Halloween, he brushed his teeth for about 40 minutes, had me pick him up while he was wrapped in a blanket and take him to pre-assigned destinations, and then went on youtube typing in gibberish and looking it up. But, I made 30 bucks - so all's well that end's well.