Babysitting

As I am waiting to get licensed from the state for day care, I have been babysitting my friend's 1 year old. What a learning experience!! I do love it, but there are days that I ask myself "Why do I want more kids?" "Why do I want to be a licensed day care provider?" And then I take a deep breath and remember how much I love these girls! Here are a few pictures of Olivia and Lilly playing.

Here the girls are rocking on their toys while I try to make lunch. It kept them occupied for a brief moment...

Olivia stacking the buckets. I have to dig out my child development stuff from CMU, but I am one proud Mama of this little girl. She does great stacking the buckets on her own, but when she struggles with what should come next I can tell her "find the BIG blue bucket" and she does. She is already working on size differences and her colors! You go girl!

Lilly getting a break from Olivia and playing with a toy on her own.

Olivia hanging out in the tunnel.

Lilly is trying to push the popcorn popper, while sitting down.

I started babysitting Lilly just two days a week. This happened for two weeks. Then Lilly's mom got a second part time job, and Lilly started coming four days a week. We just finished week two of having her here four days. I have to say we are all adjusting well. Lilly is getting used to being here more often (she was in day care when she was an infant, but it's been awhile since that has happened for her), but we still struggle with naptimes. Olivia is also going through a lot of adjusting. She is adjusting to sharing her Mom, her toys, her space. We have good days, and we have bad days. On our good days, Olivia is very helpful with Lilly. She does her own thing and lets Lilly play on her own (for the most part). On our bad days, we have tempertantrums because Lilly is holding one of her toys. When Olivia gets the toy back, she sets it down and moves on. She doesn't even play with it. On our bad days, Olivia hits. Never hard, never leaving a mark, but she does raise her hand to Lilly. On our bad days, Olivia is a typical two year old who is learning to share (mom, toys, etc), learning how to act around other kids, learning what is expected of her. This phase too shall pass and we know it will get easier. In the meantime, I constantly pray. :)