Pretty Basic

It was a nice night.  The kind where you'd want to call up your friends, go out to a bar, sip a Manhattan, and laugh over the listless days of frivolous youth.
But I was decked out in my favorite hoodie trudging off to babysit.  This is where it's at. Oh.... yes....
As I arrived I was greeted by the typical "hide!! the babysitter is here" attitude.  Loved is not the word I'd use to describe it.
Mrs. J showed me the children's schedule.
- Dinner
- Play time
- Story time
- Bed time
Pretty basic.  Right?
And then after that I'd have about two hours of reading till Mr. and Mrs. J got home and my night would be over.
Not too shabby.
TASK #1: Successfully finish dinner.
There the kids sat, Sam, Betsy, and Gemma the baby.  The older two ate painfully slow often forgetting their utensils.  I'd try to encourage them to use a fork.  Gemma, on the other hand, ate like food was going out of style.
"I'm sitting in Mommy's chair!" Betsy gloated.
"Well look at you." I responded.
"I know." she started to giggle, "It's Mommy's chair!"
"Gemma, no! You can't just sit in Mommy's chair." Sam said, quite distraught over the prospect.
"Aw c'mon Sam, just let Betsy sit in your Mommy's chair.  Mmmm why don't you take another bite of those yummy looking green beans."
"They're gross."
"Miss ANN!!!!"
"Yes, Betsy?"
"I peed on Mommy's chair."
Are. You. Kidding. Me.
Dinner Success: Less Than Satisfactory - cleaning up pee is never a highlight.

TASK #2: Attempt an injury free play time
Play time was always great.  So, at least this should help make up for the dinner fiasco.  Sam, per usual, wanted to play soccer and make up stories.
Post accident Betsy was wound up however and quite obsessed with telling everyone over and over again about her mishap. She'd roar with laughter over Mommy's poor chair.
Well, at least she had a sense of humor.
Gemma just wanted to keep eating.  So I got the three of them together and figured that it was time to play a game.
"OH MISS ANN LOOK AT BABY!" Betsy screamed rushing over to Gemma. "Ooooh Baby!"
And this is when Betsy decided it was a brilliant idea to simply pinch Gemma as hard as she could.
Good heavens, could Gemma cry.  Literally her piercing scream seemed to echo throughout the entire house.  It was so loud.  So heart wrenching.  So blood chilling.  Gosh, I thought the neighbors could hear it.
"Betsy! You can't pinch your sister!" I immediately cried, rocking Gemma in my arms.  "I want you to go sit down on that chair for a little time out."
The main reason for giving Betsy time out was so I could try and get Gemma to quiet down. Sam brilliantly brought me some gross looking veggie fries that she seemed to find unbelievably scrumptious, but after one bite the howling would pick up again.
"Maybe she wants her blankie? Sam suggested.
"Ooh good idea.  Do you know where it is?"
And as we went to get her a blankie, somehow Betsy managed to literally fall right off of the chair and land on her head.  How she managed this I have no idea.
So, now we had two babies howling.
Play Time Success: F
TASK #3 - STORY TIME: tonight's goal: instill peace and happiness once again to the household.
Fortunately Story time seemed to bring things together.  We read about The teeny tinny woman who lived in the teeny tiny house.  And this teeny tinny woman in the teeny tiny house made those three kiddos smile and giggle like nothing else. So we read it four times.
Hey, story time was actually a success.  
The night went on and things were going much smoother.
By the time Mr. and Mrs. J got home I found myself somewhat tired and still a bit shaken up by the fiasco (seriously how do you simply fall out of a chair and land on your head?). At least things ended up fairly well.
But better yet, the next time I went Mrs. J said to me, "You know, we had prayer time before you got here and Betsy lead us today.  And she said, 'Thank you God for letting Miss Ann come to us.'"
I smiled quite floored and sincerely touched.
Maybe JUST MAYBE, despite all the mishaps, I was doing something right.