What you learn from a 5 year old

So I spent the last weekend in San Diego babysitting my friend's 5 year old, Joshua. I used to live with my friend and her little boy and babysat him pretty often. I was so excited to spend the weekend with just him and me. We dropped his momma off at the airport Thursday night and kept telling him how special and exciting this was and how he should feel so ecstatic. Well this lasted about half of the drive home before he started getting a little sad. What did I do? I gave him the gummy worms his mom had given me in case something like this should happen. Well that perked him up again!

I could tell you all of the details of the weekend, but I'll spare you. Needless to say, we had a fantastic time and did a lot of really fun stuff (i.e. 101 Dalmatians play that my cousin, Riley was in, go to church, build radical forts and secret hideouts in the living room, build ramps for his monster trucks, etc.). What I would like to say though is how much appreciation I gained for mothers/parents in the short 72 hours that I was a temporary mom!! I didn't realize how much freedom you give up when you become a mom. The only time I felt like I had any choice in what I did was after he went to bed, and by that point, I was so exhausted from building forts in the living room, drawing/coloring, watching silly youtube videos, and getting him fed that all I wanted to do was go to sleep (at 8:30pm that is). Now don't get me wrong, I had a blast with this kid and love him like a nephew, but I guess I just never realized how much work it is to be on 24 hour duty. When I lived with them, I got to be the fun playful aunt type family member. I didn't have to deal with discipline or setting down rules or enforcing onces already in place (you know, the trivial ones, like don't touch a pot I just made rice in or hit me with your karate stick), his mom always dealt with that. I also didn't have to worry about him waking up every morning at 6:30 am as though an alarm had gone off, his mom always dealt with that. Also, do you know how much you need to bring when you take off for a day out of town?? I couldn't believe how many things I thought about and knew I had to bring. Guess I have good role models for that.

So this blog is to send out a thank you to all parents out there who realized that the day that kid was born, your life was no longer your own. I send kudos to all of you. However, this weekend has made me appreciate my ability to spend as long as I'd like in bed in the morning, tattle to a kid's parent rather than disciplining, and not counting toys after leaving each destination on a trip. I love all you parents for what you do and I know some day I will be in the boat of having the 24/7/365 job that is beyond rewarding and exhilarating, yet more exhausting than anything else!!! And when that day comes, I will be so thankful for my own little bundle of joy!! (But that won't be for several years!!)