I was at church on Sunday when Melissa, (click here to say hi to Melissa) came up to me with a panicked look on her face. Her arms were completely full with her four-month old baby and all of his travel necessities - diaper bag, toys, and car seat.
“Do you have something you have to do for the next two hours?” she asked.
“Um, no, not really, why?” I responded.
“How would you feel about taking care of Van while I’m in my class?” she asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.
See, Melissa is in charge of watching a half dozen 2-3 year old children for two hours while their parents attend Sunday School. As you can imagine, she has her work cut out for her during that time and simultaneously keeping up with a four-month old would be an overload. Normally her husband takes the baby during class but since he had to work, she was stuck.
She needn’t have worried. It was all I could do not to snatch Van out of her arms while she was talking, but I figured that might scare him so I restrained myself. Instead, I listened attentively as she gave me instructions.
“He’s probably tired so just put him in his car seat and rock him a bit to get him to go to sleep. And if he gets fussy, here are his favorite toys,” she said.
She turned away to leave. ”Oh – and if he starts smelling funny, there are diapers in the bag.”
I admit the word diaper had me a little thrown, but I said, “No problem, I’ve got this covered!” And off she went. It was just me and her little man. I could do this. I mean how hard could it be? After all, we’re trying to have a little one of our own, so this will be good practice, right? I was ready!
Well, almost ready. I had to go to the bathroom. What do you do with children when you have to go to the bathroom? I don’t know what real moms do, but I had a secret weapon – the CPA. So I handed him off and ran downstairs while I still had the chance. When I got back, I found this.
Seriously. There are no words.
I couldn’t let the CPA have all the fun though, so Van and I began quietly playing with his toys. (You’ve got to love it when a child is easily entertained by nothing more than a stuffed elephant with crinkly ears.) He sat in my lap and looked thoroughly impressed with my elephant sounds until suddenly, his little face started to squish. His nose wrinkled and his bottom lip stuck out. Then there was a whimper. And another one.
Oh no, that can’t be good. Figuring he must be tired or wet or both, we made a quick getaway to the bathroom down the hall. I laid him on the table, dug the diapers out of the bag and proceeded to change him. That is, until I realized I was putting the diaper on backwards. Thankfully, Van seemed to understand that it had been 15 years since I had last changed a baby’s diaper because he just patiently laid there until I figured it out. Of course it helped that another mother saw us and stopped by to offer her assistance. I’m glad she was there because she was able to assure me that no, the diaper was not defective. Apparently they no longer use sticky tabs to close them, now they’re made with velcro. Who knew?
One fresh diaper later, Van had a dry bum and was able to quickly fall asleep in his car seat. I spent the last hour rocking him back and forth while he snoozed. Every once in a while his little hand would twitch and his pacifier would quiver as he took in a deep breath.
I have to say that there is nothing as peaceful as watching a little one sleep.
When class was over, I reluctantly returned him to his mother, no worse for the wear. Van had survived unscathed and I had made it a full two hours on my own. Okay, the CPA helped a bit and there were other mothers around to give me assistance, but still, I made it through my first trial run. I can handle this, right? This mothering thing can’t be that bad! Bring on the babies!
(yes, I do realize just how naive that statement sounds. I’m being a little facetious.)
ps – thanks to Melissa and Jon for letting me watch their sweet little guy!
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