Babysitter

I spent a lot of time when I was a teenager babysitting as a part time job.  It was often for neighbours and friends and I really enjoyed spending time with the kids.  The one family that I spent a lot of time with, had two young girls.  After spending summers, holidays, and many weekend nights with the girls, I was honoured to be asked to be godmother to their youngest.

Well, we've come full circle now.  The youngest the little girl that I babysit so many years ago came to my house this past Saturday night to babysit my baby girl.  This was the first time that Kennedy had a babysitter that wasn't a blood relative.  Mama was a bit nervous, but the night went smoothly without any problems!  She was happy when the sitter arrived, I put her to bed, and she slept soundly through the night. 

Looks like mommy and daddy may be able to go out a bit more now :)

Soak it in

Tonight after supper, I could tell that my little lady was getting tired but it was bath night and she was in need of a bath after running her sloppy fingers through her hair at dinner. 

I drew the water, stripped her down, put her in the tub, and she started splashing around as I scrubbed her clean and we sang.  I knew that a quick rinse would finish it off, so laid her back in the tub to rinse her hair.  It was then that she looked up at me as I sang totally off tune that she smiled and laughed.  I paused in my song to smile back, tickle her bare tummy, and share a giggle with her.  It was then that I realized - why am I rushing?  Yes, she is tired.  Yes it is "bed time", but what harm will it be to spend another five or ten minutes of fun in the tub with mom?  So we splished and we splashed... we giggled and we laughed... and we didn't worry about bed for a few minutes.  We soaked it in. 

Sometimes we need reminders to slow down, and soak it all in.  Tonight I got my reminder --- and it came in the form of a giggle. 

Cousins

Tonight we were treated to a Sunday Supper at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  After a yummy dinner, they kids ended up in Grandma's pantry playing together.  This consisted of pretending to mix eggs in a bowl with a whisk, taking all the soup cans down off the shelf, and crawling around opening and shutting the door. I enjoyed watching the three of them play so happily together.  It's wonderful that Kennedy has two cousins that are close in age to her that she will grow up with.  We are also so fortunate to live close by to both of them.  I wonder what trouble the three of them will get into together in the years to come.  I have many memories of things that I did with my cousins, and I hope she has just as much fun as we all did (and still do!)

Hoppy Easter!

Now that our little lady is in her second year of life, we are able to actually continue traditions that we did with her last year.  In 2011, the big egg hunt happened when she was only 24 days old.  I think that her father thought I was nuts as we took her around the backyard and in the gardens collecting chocolates and eggs to help celebrate her first Easter (I think there was lots of speculation that this was just an excuse for mom to get chocolate!).    Of course, we had to do it again this year.  Although she was still a little uncertain as to what was going on, she was attracted to the colourful eggs around the yard and crawled over to pick some up and put them in her mouth.  With lots of help and encouragement from mom and dad, we found them all!  We look forward to doing this again next year.  I've already looked at the calender and Easter Sunday 2013 actually falls on K's 2nd birthday.  What a fun way to celebrate! 

Officially one (with a picture to prove it)

On March 31st, I snuck into K's room at 8:51 and took the first picture of our one year old. xoxo