Shhh...The Baby is Sleeping

It is almost 6:00 a.m., and I have entered the high-tech era of baby-sitting. My darling almost fifteen-month-old great-niece is with me for a couple of days. I am sitting in the living room writing this on my laptop and listening to the baby monitor. When her mother (now 29) and uncle (now almost 28) were babies, we didn't have baby monitors, and mothers and aunts and grandmothers slept even more lightly and listened for every sound. We tiptoed into darkened rooms to be sure they were still breathing, and tried not to stumble over anything and disturb their sleep.

She and I made the trip from her home yesterday afternoon. Her mom and dad have gone to San Francisco so that her mother can do a presentation at a national conference in her field, so I graciously (ha!) volunteered to take off two days from school and babysit. This was her first car trip without at least one of her parents, and she cried a little when she realized they were not coming with us. She cried for about five minutes and then decided to do what she usually does as soon as she gets in the car...take off her shoes and socks.

We got to my house around 6:15 p.m. Her grammy (my sister) was here to help with dinner and getting ready for bed, and we put her down around 7:20. She will sleep until around 7:00 a.m., and then we'll change her diaper, eat breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed, and play until time for a morning snack and nap. My niece is a wonderful mother, married to a wonderful man, and was blessed with a child who seemed to have been born with a schedule already set! After a morning nap, we'll have lunch and go visit my friends at school. Then we'll play some more, have an afternoon snack, and then have another nap. After that nap, we'll have dinner, play some more (hard work getting all that play in during a day), eat dinner and get ready for bed.

What a wonderful way to spend a day...