Adventures in Babysitting

This afternoon I had a frantic neighbor ask me if I would babysit his 4 year old daughter since they were going to his company Christmas party and needed help in a pinch...therein begins the adventure of my evening. It has been a while since I was completely responsible for entertaining, feeding and protecting a child from every sharp object in my apt (for which she seemed to be the magnectic opposite pole!) This child was sweet...but imagine my heart attack when she decides to go after my dog who has hidden under the table in the furthest corner...all I could think was "I'm sorry Mrs So-in-so, but your daughter's face was ripped off by my 10 lb shih-poo, but it was only 30 odd stitches..." This dog has not been tested for her child friendliness in a controlled environment - thankfully she turned out to be a wimp and basically wanted to be at the furthest point away from this whirling, squealing creature. It turns out she knew my DVD player better than I did, and it is a good darn thing that I have a copy of "The Incredibles" I'll just pretend that I have that for emergency purposes like this one, not because I loved it that much... My apt is not made or ready for children...this is good since I am single, 25 and no where near producing them myself, but this made for a nervous evening...especially when she insisted on changing into her jammies alone in my bathroom. That was fine until I heard the click of the lock turning (read here: potential hazards that could be swallowed, injested and lead to death and all my bobbypins for picking the lock were in there) emergency avoided as I used my powers of persuasion (m&m's) to get her to unlock the door and not create a moment where I am breaking down the door with a hammer (the only thing in my tool set that would do the job, short on axes around here). Of course this lead to the problem of sugar intake which her mother had advised me against letting me know that if she had any she would be J-A-C-K-E-D U-P. Does any other non-parent out there take an extra few seconds for comprehnsion around these people who constantly seem to be in a spelling bee? I understand the purpose...but I do have the nasty habit of piecing the letters together, saying the word aloud since I am proud that I have figured out the puzzle and then it's all for nothing anyway. Maybe I'm the only one with this problem.

Overall not bad, had to play a few rounds of Scooby Doo matching game, braid a few babydoll's hair and color in a princess coloring book, at the least very out of my norm and reminded me of the endless summers of babysitting I did once. I would recommend this to all single people who are not content in their singleness right now. There will come a time when we wish to have all of our free time back, when our lives are filled with cartoons, bad board games and constant questions of why and how, and we will love it I know, but there are things to be thankful for right now...