The other night Aliysa, Courtney and Mallory were gone. Bob and I had to leave. Before we left I said, to no one in particular, “What will you guys do with no girls here to babysit?” I started to give Jace instructions, and then looked down to see Abby looking up very intently at me with her big brown eyes. “I will be the girl babysitter, Mom!” she said. “Oh, you will?” I asked. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “Jace! I will babysit you!” she declared.
Jace reports to me that as soon as Bob and I left, she began her serious job. “I am babysitting Jace, and Spencer, and Zach, and Andrew, and Taycie, and Grace (her doll). Where’s Grace?” She found her, laying under a book. “Oh Grace!” she said, picking her up.
Then she began putting everyone to work. “Now, we are going to do jobs in the downstairs.” “Spencer, go clean the counters. Zach, put away all the baby toys. Jace, put away the Farming Game.” Then she noticed that Andrew had fallen asleep on the couch. “Jace, go put Andrew in bed.” After Jace completed his assignment, she had him “put away all the dolls.” Andrew woke up, and came downstairs, and she put him to work too.
She referred to herself as “the babysitter” all evening.
When she figured that enough cleaning had been done, she called everyone for “scripture, song, & prayer” (our nightly bedtime routine). “We are going to do scripture, song, and prayer.” She
appointed each person a spot to kneel in the circle, then gave out assignments: “The babysitter will do the scripture, the tiniest baby (Taycie) will choose the song, and Andrew will say the prayer.”
When that was finished, she sent everyone but Jace off to bed, and whispered to Jace: “we need to watch a babysitter movie.” She chose “Schoolhouse Rock.”, and she and Jace were happily watching it when we got home.
I paid her 5 cents for babysitting. What a bargain for me.
