Janene was gracious enough to share her weekly email with her family, which details the goings on of the Madsen children while we were out of town. Omigosh, I love this. I might have to add "writing a guest blog post" clause to the next babysitting gig I set up. None of my kids' actions surprise me, nor any of the comments about their notoriety at church - I'm not blind to their behavior.
Enjoy.
******
Dear Family,
A month ago, we got an email, which read more as an advertisement (which makes sense, seeing as the author has a degree in Marketing and Advertising). We were asked if we would babysit 4 kids ages 9, 6, 4, and 2, for 5 days while their parents were 2000 miles away. This particular family has kids whose screams and yells are well known to every Sacrament meeting attendee, and even more so to the Primary and Nursery workers. This was no secret to the parents, hence the advertisement format. We were offered the experience of sleeping on a wonderful memory foam king size mattress, having free reign of garden-fresh vegetables, use of an awesome minivan, and the eternal love and gratitude of this family, in addition to some monetary compensation. As former Primary instructors, we knew what this would entail, so naturally, we said "sure, but we want to know this, this, this, this, that, and that," hoping that all these details would discourage the advertiser. In this, we were frustrated, because the advertiser is hyper-organized, able to answer and address every question we could come up with.
So, last Sunday, we embarked upon this adventure. We received a green binder with schedules for the days we would be there, along with menu ideas, activity ideas, and optional events, such as napping. Then, the parents drove off into the sunset. (Well, not quite; it was 2:00 in the afternoon. But, they left.)
On that first day, Janene got the experience of making a meal which nobody ate. She made Hawaiian Haystacks, a meal marketed as having something for everybody--there are a billion toppings, after all! She and David ate dinner. The kids ate a topping or two. There were many leftovers, which made Janene happy (for the sake of leftovers, not that nobody ate). Then, she loaded dishes in the dishwasher (!) while the kids enjoyed their computer-on-the-weekend privileges. In this, we did not discourage them, for there was no hitting or yelling.
On Monday, Janene went to work and David stayed home. This made a lot of sense, since Janene makes more than David, and David has good stay-at-home dad skills. (It was really because Janene had to physically be there to teach a class, but David's writing this portion, so we'll use his rationale.) In this, the natural order of life was maintained. Janene did, however, change the two-year-old's diaper before she left, because there are some things that Davids do not do. David was on top of everything on his to-do list: the kids had their chores done, lunches made, and were out the door ready for school a full 35 minutes before the bus was scheduled to come! This led to 35 minutes of hide-and-seek. Though David tired of the game quickly, the kids did not, so they kept playing. Eventually, the bus did come, and the two oldest kids were gone, leaving two fewer people to help entertain the younger kids. David had a 10 am meeting that he had to Skype into, which meant that we had to entertain ourselves indoors. The plans were to do something that afternoon, but these plans were inconvenienced by the youngest child needing to take a nap. This turned out to be a great convenience, though, because there was now one less child to entertain. Unfortunately, the napper was the child who needed the attention the least. David had to entertain the remaining child, who is the most famous of these children to the Nursery and Primary workers, and indeed, to the whole ward. The napper napped, and napped, and napped, for nigh on three hours of napping. David was concerned she was napping too long, but he REALLY liked having only one kid around, so he let her nap. David also didn't want to waken her, because before nap, he had to change a poopy diaper. Eventually, she did wake up. Wanting to leave the house, David suggested we go on a walk, an activity said to be popular, according to the green binder. The activity was popular for both, but the direction to go in was not. The boys would be home from school in 25 minutes, so we had to stay nearby; however, any attempt to turn in the direction of the house, or go in any path which would circle back to the house, was met with loud screams. Eventually, they were tricked into doing a circle. The school bus came, and David was grateful, because we had been standing in front of the house for 5 minutes, and he was worried that the kids would soon realize it was THEIR house we were standing in front of. The boys did get off the school bus, and the kids were entertained by snacks, and a few minutes of SpongeBob SquarePants. But all too soon, it was time to do homework for the two oldest boys. David took the youngest two outside, hoping that Janene would hurry up and get home before he had to change a third diaper that day. Eventually Janene showed up, David started a grease fire and burned half the hamburgers by accident, we ate, and then went swimming. We did wait the requisite hour after eating before swimming, but mostly because it took that long to get swimsuits and sunblock on everybody. After swimming, we came home and did the ritual fight of pajamas, teethbrushing, prayer, scriptures, and bedtime story. David ended up changing three diapers that day.
On Tuesday, David didn't change any diapers. He went to work, and Janene stayed home. Since Janene likes to eat pancakes every day, and it's not very nice to eat pancakes and make everyone around you eat cold cereal, she made pancakes for everyone. She learned that the temperature setting on the electric griddle did not match the temperature setting on her own electric griddle. She also learned that she needed to spend most of breakfast time helping spread peanut butter, cut pancakes into pieces, and pour syrup for those not able to do it themselves. Then she sent kids to shower and bathe. She did not have everyone ready to go 35 minutes before the bus was scheduled to come. But, they caught the bus with no problems. The four-year-old had a preschool open house, where he would meet his teachers before preschool really started. While driving to the open house, the two-year-old showed off her navigational sense, announcing that we were passing the "Pool!" or the place where they buy "Gas!" The four-year-old did well at the open house, completing his scavenger hunt, where he learned where to find the sinks, the bathroom, the puzzles, the baby dolls, and other important locations in a preschool classroom. He even did well at washing his hands after painting with them. Upon arriving back home, we went outside, at which point the four-year-old became adamant that "Tessie wants to go inside!" Tessie did not want to go inside, she was quite content to be pushed on the swing, but that did not convince said four-year-old. After distracting him with the task of picking tomatoes and watering herbs, he did okay outside. In serving lunch, Janene learned that four-year-old boys do not do well with the idea of sharing a plate of fruit; rather, they can get quite possessive if someone else takes a slice of apple from the plate which happens to be in front of them. Then, the napper went down for her nap, and the non-napper struggled to entertain himself. Any suggestions from the thorough list of activity ideas in the green binder were immediately dismissed, with a sound, "No!" Eventually, the napper woke up, and the older boys came home from school. David came home, and dinner was eaten. Yes, you read that right, dinner was eaten, not picked at! Then, the oldest and four-year-old went to a piano lesson. This meant that David entertained three kids: the four-year-old, the piano teacher's four-year-old, and the piano teacher's not-quite-two-year-old, while the oldest had his piano lesson. Of course, it helped that the two four-year-olds did alright at entertaining each other. Meanwhile, Janene relaxed with a mellow two-year-old, while the six-year-old ran around outside. Bedtime was as expected. David and Janene expanded their game repertoire by playing Uno Attack with the nine-year-old, who is allowed to stay up an hour later than his siblings.
On Wednesday, Janene once again went to her high-paying job, while David didn't; he stayed home. This time, he only had the kids ready 15 minutes before the bus came. There was only 15 minutes of hide-and-seek. This time, David wanted to DO something, so they all piled into the van, and went to Columbian Park Zoo, a local establishment featuring monkeys, a butterfly garden, a walk-through kangaroo enclosure, sea otters, and a giant tortoise, among other things. Following his usual timing, David showed up 40 minutes before the zoo opened! Luckily, the zoo shares grounds with a park. Unluckily, the infant swings were being remulched. This led to the same problem that was experienced on Monday's walk. This was solved by having the older child hang out with a grandma and her kids on one toy, while David took the other child to a different toy. In this way, we were entertained for 25 minutes. A long snack ate up the remaining 15 minutes, and finally, the zoo was opened. Now the kids didn't want to leave the park. After many reminders of why we were there in the first place, they decided they did want to go to the zoo after all, and we walked over. So far today, David hadn't changed a diaper. We stayed at the zoo for an hour. The animals were kind of boring, though; it must have been a late night for them. Driving 5 mph below the speed limit, we made it home in time for lunch (they're very quiet when in the van). The normal routine of lunch, nap, and entertain the remaining child followed. David didn't dare try and go on a walk again after the napper woke up, so we played on the swingset instead. David has perfected the art of pushing a swing with one had while reading a book with the other. Someday, he'll replace the book with a smartphone. Janene came home later than she did on Monday; David thinks that was intentional, but he didn't ask her. That meant that dinner was a little late, because it's harder to make dinner when you have a bunch of kids around. For all you mothers out there, there's a big learning curve; I'm sure that after that first time, I can do it much better now. The oldest child was picked up for Cub Scouts, which meant it was 3 on 2. The neighbor kids wanted to play, so we sent the kids outside. The children were put to bed a little early so that David could go to Horrible Movie Night, a Mystery Science Theater 3000 style event. The movie was appropriately horrible--Plan 9 From Outer Space, anyone? David only had to change two diapers that day.
On Thursday, David went to work and Janene stayed home. She made pancakes for breakfast again. This time, she tried to teach the six- and nine-year-old how to cut their own pancakes; she was moderately successful. The four-year-old had his first day of preschool. After driving past the "Pool!" and "Gas!" we arrived at "Hey! There's my preschool!" The four-year-old, who, the previous year, had major problems leaving his mom to go to teachers he didn't know, had no problem leaving someone he sort of knew to go to teachers he didn't know. Upon returning home, the two-year-old became rather sad and upset, possibly from being on the 4th full day without mommy. But, the green binder held the solution: milk on mommy's bed, with the all-powerful and soothing piggy blanket. The rest of the morning, she entertained herself well. Then, it was off to pick up her brother from preschool. The two-year-old did not want to leave the van once we pulled into the garage, and Janene had no problem with that; she could take 10 minutes to come inside if she wanted. The four-year-old, on the other hand, did NOT like this arrangement. "Tessie needs to go inside! No!" (along with the beginnings of sobs) "Tessie needs to go inside!" After about 10 minutes, Tessie decided she was ready to come inside, and the minor tantrum subsided. Despite being adamantly against the idea of eating anything that was suggested, both kids ate their chicken nuggets and peaches. The napper went down for her nap, and the non-napper actually did very well at entertaining himself! (If only he could start off every day with the stimulation of preschool . . .) Homework was done, dinner was made and eaten, and we went to the pool again. There, the two-year-old explored the excitement of making a fountain with the squirt toy; she couldn't figure out filling it up, but she had fun squirting the water out. Then we went home, got the kids ready for bed, and told them that when they woke up, their parents would be home. Then, Janene packed up her stuff, said goodnight to David, and went home. (She had to teach at 8:30 the next morning.) The parents showed up at 1 am. David told them we had taken the kids swimming, so they probably should shower the next morning, to which the mom replied, "pshhhh"; she wasn't going to worry about it. Then David came home and tried to sleep, couldn't because he was already awake, so stayed up and did work for a few hours. At church today, we learned that the kids had been a little crazy this weekend, and were asked if we wanted them back. :)
And that, dear family, was our week.
Love,
David and Janene
1 comment:
Love, love, love it!
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