I came back from a forty-five minute trip to the grocery store to find the house phone off the hook, my nephew running around with one shoe off and no pants, and Jay in the middle of a leaky diaper change. I’d say this is a clear indication that it’s a good thing I only babysit Elijah once a week.
Lesson: Next time, go grocery shopping when Elijah is down for his daily nap, clearly Jay is not ready to care for two kids under the age of two.
Jay and I finally got Elijah to attempt to say Evelyn’s name. Before we’d say, “Say Evelyn” and he’d point to her and say “Bebe!” Mind you he only has the “Ev” part down, but it’s a start.
Posted in Accomplished, Evelyn, Nephew
We’ve been trying to get a good picture of Elijah and Evelyn together to frame as one gift to my parents for Christmas, but a 22-month-old and a 2-month-old are exactly the most photogenic pair. This picture was like two hours and 400 attempts in the making. We take them to see Santa tomorrow night, can’t wait.
Here are some of the others we got: It’s a good thing we got them the GPS too, these look like they were taken at the most run-down studio ever, so much for the last-minute gift of sentiment.
Today I babysat my nephew Elijah for the first time since I had Evelyn. There was a half hour time frame where I felt like calling her to pick him up because I was over my head, but I survived.
Posted in Accomplished, Nephew
When we brought Evelyn home from the hospital, my sister came over as soon as possible so that Elijah could meet the new addition. As soon as her saw her he smiled and yelled “Baby!!!,” then ran over to her and immediately wanted to hold her. It took some effort, but we finally got him to settle with sitting on his mom’s lap while she held him. He immediately started giving her kisses, and when she whimpered he blew on her and kind of rocked to sooth her. It’s adorable to see them together.
After taking a pretty bad fall and bumping his skull, my nephew Elijah wasn’t in the mood for play time anymore. After getting babied for a while, his restless spirit decided he was tired of the same old cartoons, went over to the DVD shelving unit, demanded it be opened, and began pulling out my options for his entertainment. So began the Pixar marathon. He was mesmerized by two whole movies about talking toys, so much so he needed a break (nap time), then was in a trance as an ant saved his colony, and two monsters saved a little girl.
I had forgotten how much I loved all these movies, call me juvenile, but Pixar has never let me down. Who wouldn’t love Woody, Buzz, Dot, Flick, Boo, and Mike Wazowski? Besides, if anyone makes fun of me, I can fall back on my raging hormones excuse. Elijah better want more Pixar tomorrow, because he’s watching The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille whether he wants to or not.
My sister and I have been trying to show my 18 month old nephew why he’s told “no” when he tries to climb on my belly. We’ve managed to teach him what babies are, so now every time he sees a picture of a baby or one on TV, he points and yells “bebe?” and looks at us for reassurance. Lately we’ve been trying to get him to understand that there’s a baby in my ever-expanding bump too. We point to a baby picture and then to my belly, and say “baby.” First, he would lift my shirt and stick his finger in my belly button (which is also ever-expanding) and say “ba!” and giggle. Then he would lift his shirt and rub his own belly and say “bebe,” looking to us for reassurance. We finally got him to point at my tummy and say “bebe” with confidence, so we decided to show Jay. “Where’s the baby?” we asked. He pulled down my shirt, smacked my boob, yelled “bebe!” and ran away.
I guess we have to work on overcoming his male tendencies to see boobies, cop feels, run away, and show off in front of other men before we teach him about where babies come from.
Usually when I babysit my nephew, I give him about an hour of cartoon time to get him to stop bugging me keep him entertained. his all-time favorite is Handy Manny. He hears that song at the beginning at he does his penguin waddle into the room, climbs on the couch, and glue his eyes to the television. He likes it so much, he has his own dance for when they sing their “fix it” song. He climbs down the couch and waves his arm while doing a move similar to squats until the song is over and it’s time to climb back on the couch and continue watching. Every once in a while he looks up at me, and if he could talk his words would be “see that? Manny is the shit!” I look back at him and think: Manny is the voice of the same guy who couldn’t get over breast milk because it came from a female boob on That 70’s Show.
Posted in Nephew
Tagged baby, cartoon, handy manny, that 70's show, Tv, wilmer valderama
The only person I know who looks adorable when sleeping with his mouth open.
I’ve been babysitting my nephew Elijah quite frequently over the last few weeks. He’s adorable. I mean adorable in a way that makes me almost serious when I tell my sister I’m going to steal him. The only thing that stops me is the thought of staying in a state penitentiary after I’m caught.
Maybe it’s my maternal side kicking in, but I catch myself actually starring at him from time to time. I feel like he’s going to catch me one day and say “quit it creep,” in baby language. My favorite is when he’s ready to take his nap and he comes up to me and lays his head on the couch, signaling for me to lay him down.
Meeuh 