Babysitters

If I had a dollar for every time someone here at the hospital asked how old my kids are and responded with 'Wow, you've got your hands full!' then we might be able to pay Ellie's medical bills. The truth is, I do have my hands full with Miles and Ellie so close in age. I can't say the 17 month space between kids is something I have loved or would recommend, but we are doing the best we can in our situation. Sometimes this requires getting a little creative with ways to entertain Miles while we are tied down with Ellie so we don't find him swinging from the kitchen light fixture (this literally happened a time or two) or find my mom's iphone in the toilet (unfortunately this also really happened). Rule number one is make sure all the doors are closed before you sit down to limit the places he can get into trouble. Second, recruit the help of the older kids to entertain Miles. While most of the time they do a great job playing with him I am often reminded why 4 and 6 year olds don't babysit. One day when I was home alone with all the kids and had to feed Ellie I sent Miles downstairs to play with Mason and Brynn. I heard Mason yelling "no Miles, no!" over and over and then started hearing the clanging of metal folding chairs being pulled out of the storage room. I was yelling down to Mason asking what was going on and he kept telling me "It's okay Mom, Miles won't stop touching the red thing (a scentsy candle), so I'm blocking it with chairs." By the time I was finished feeding Ellie I was dying to see what had been going on down there and this is what I found...

Notice the red scentsy being protected by the deathtrap of chairs. I was actually very impressed by Mason's problem solving and that he didn't just shut Miles out of the basement like he and Brynn often times do when they get tired of playing with Miles. The third rule is anything that can't cause damage is fair game for entertainment. One of the most successful babysitters we have found for Miles is a pile of laundry.

 The kid goes crazy rolling around in piles of laundry and will be perfectly content for 20 minutes straight, which is unheard of for Miles. I am so happy to have him sitting still that I don't even care when it's my folded piles of laundry that get torn apart. Out of all of these scenarios my very favorite is when he just comes and cuddles up next to me with his blanket and a book.

There is nothing I love more than reading books with my toddlers. Miles has his favorite books he loves to read over and over. His favorite is Hop on Pop. He especially loves counting the balls on the fall off the wall page. The way he holds onto my finger to count and shouts "NINE!" at the end always makes me smile.
Honestly, I love Miles' free spirit. He may be a crazy 19 month old, but that's okay, he's just doing what a 19 month old is supposed to do, explore and learn. It's not his fault that he doesn't have a mom who is available to follow him around exploring all day.

Obviously this post reflects our life before Ellie entered the hospital because Miles and Ellie haven't been together for more than short visits for the last month while Ellie has been in and out of the hospital. My mom has pretty much stepped in as Miles' mother. He is growing up so fast and every time I see him I am blown away by his ever increasing vocabulary and his improving attention span and obedience. It makes me happy to seeing him progressing, but breaks my heart that I am missing it all. I know it will be crazy when we are all together under one roof again, but I still can't wait to be together again.