Mon 10 Dec 2007
This morning I told Amie L would come and play with her while Mama also went to office. L iz her favorite assistant at daycare and the only one to have babysat her, once before.
She cried for a minute and asked me to stay. I said I could stay a little bit. She asked could I stay a more bit, a much bit? I promised half an hour, which she considered and then approved, though she wasn’t convinced. It didn’t matter. L came in at 9 and Amie was so excited to see her he jumped and chattered nonstop, showing L all her toys. She even asked me to leave, already, for office!
It was almost guilt free.
I left after the promised half hour and risked life and limb on the slippery sidewalks. Potential ambulance ride and trip to the ER: $1000.
I did spend some time (15 minutes) browsing at our local independent bookstore, the Booksmith. Babysitter while I “relaxed”: $4.
I made it to Peets unharmed, where I purchased a scone and a latte to justify my presence there: $4.64. (If the babysitting doesn’t bankrupt us, Peets will.)
4 hours of babysitting at $15: worth it, because of the other side of the ledger.
- 4 hours of solid work on the novel – which, you know, will be the next bestseller, and let’s not forget the movie rights!
- 4 hours of unadulterated fun for Amie.
When I returned home with lunch for everyone, L had even done the dishes. She did this the first time she came, and I had reminded myself to absolutely forbid her to do it again – for of course we had dishes! But I forgot in the whirl of leave taking and kisses and searching for cell phone and gloves.
So, yes: not wholly guiltess, but so worth it!
Sinterklaas, you ask? It didn’t happen. Amie’s cold was much worse yesterday – one kid’s runny nose, you know, is Amie’s bronchitis. She was also disappointed. Sinterklaas comes to New England only one day a year. She will have to make do with Santa Claus, who – in all honesty and with my apologies to the Americans – is a sorry excuse for Sinterklaas! (You can read more about that here.) Next year…
December 10th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Everytime I visit mamastories, I learn something new…I love the ‘manushes Badi’(house in bengali, i guess you know this word already) I’m going to make a little badi for Anika too!
So you’re working on a novel, that is wonderful..any posts on that? How exciting. In my earlier life I made movies. Maybe I can get the movie rights when the book is ready=)
Your morning in Peets sounds wonderful, I do wish for some alone time to be creative sometimes too, but I haven’t yet found a babysitter I feel comfortable with, so this will have to wait.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Hi Anja,
The Manush Badi is being added to!
I am actually cheating with the babysitter: she is the assistant at Amie’s daycare, and Amie’s favorite assistant at that! So I didn’t have to look far. I know how hard it is to find someone reliable AND someone your child can feel comfortable with. But once you find that person… oh, it is fun all around!
Any movies of yours that I could find?