‘Top 5’ babysitting moments, new Dresden hardware store owners

Morning Coffee – By Aaron Hall

We had the honour of babysitting our two nieces this past weekend – Izzy, 4, and Ally, 2.

While the couple of days proved to have many memorable moments, here is the ‘Top 5’ list.

5 – The inspiring words of Dora

When my daughters were younger, I often had the many sayings of the animated explorer Dora permanently stuck in my head.

This past weekend, I realized it never really leaves you.

While making some toast and with the kid’s glued to the TV set, I had to laugh as I rattled off the words from the Dora theme song, just like it was a Pearl Jam ballad from the 90’s.

‘Grab your backpack’, ‘Jump in’, ‘You can lead the way!’

To any parents reading this… you’re welcome.

4 – Meal time

While part of meal time with the kid’s had a constant serious side (I’ll explain in another column this week), there was a lot of fun to be had during these moment as well.

All of my ‘sit properly’, ‘eat your food’, ‘don’t hang off the chair’, ‘don’t dump that out’, ‘small bites’, ‘three more bites’ were all countered with equal force with ‘I’m full’, ‘It tastes yucky’, ‘I’m done’, ‘I’m just going to put Dora back on.’

With patience, and a few paper towels and rags to clean up the spilled yogurt explosion on the floor, meal time was a blast during our babysitting adventure.

3 – Hugs

There isn’t much in the world that can beat getting a great big squeeze from a child.

In a moment of despair this weekend, which resulted in a wailing cry and sobbing (Ally’s blanket had fallen on the floor) I had two big eyes looking up at me, arms outstretched, tears rolling down… ‘Uppie, Uncle Aaron.’

While I picked her up in my arms, Ally gently rested her little head right on my shoulder and kept it there for a few moments.

In the busy world of a toddler, these moments come and go and usually don’t last too long.

However, during this quick moment I was able to reminisce a bit about my own daughters being that little and soak up the love.

2 – Babysitting practice

This weekend was a good eye opener and great practice for my own daughters, who are aspiring babysitters of their own.

Ava will actually be taking the babysitting course in a couple of weeks in Chatham, and is eager to take on the task and responsibility that comes with it.

I made sure to take a few steps back this weekend and let Ava and Daylia handle some of the duties.

They were a great help, although they didn’t see it necessary to practice changing any of the ‘poopy’ diapers.

Maybe next time?

1- The bug incident

While the rain kept us indoors for much of Saturday, the skies cleared enough in the evening to give us time to soak in some sunshine, go for a swim and play outside.

It also provided a great opportunity to hunt for bugs.

Izzy managed to find one creature that she grew particularly fond with.

Of course, with bedtime lingering and the sun fading, finding a home for said bug was priority number one.

When Uncle Aaron wouldn’t let the bug: 1) come sleep in Izzy’s bed with her, 2) stay in the fridge, or 3) sleep in a paper towel in the living room, we started frantically looking for other options.

After a small meltdown, and after ideas like the flower garden, vegetable garden and the grass were deemed not suitable, we finally found a spot on the kid’s picnic table where the bug could sleep for the night.

Crisis diverted.

And what you do when the kids have gone to bed? Water bottle flipping tricks, of course.. here’s Ava 🙂