Baby-Sitting

Tomorrow night marks another first for Jude and his parents--Jude's first baby-sitter who is not a relative. I put this moment off for as long as I could, and I certainly didn't come to this decision lightly. Jeffrey and I each received for our birthdays a ticket to see Blue Man Group at Thalia Mara Hall tomorrow night. We both have seen the Blue Man Group perform before, and we look forward to seeing them again. Usually, when Jeffrey and I have a date night, a set of grandparents swoops in to care for the child. However, with the concert on a week night, one set of grandparents has to go to work in the morning and the other set (the ones who gave me and Jeffrey the tickets) decided that the tickets were such a good gift that they would buy tickets for themselves and go with us. That left Jeffrey and me on a quest to find the perfect baby-sitter. I had a list in my head of potential candidates for the job. He/she would have to love babies (obviously), be prepared to encounter whatever digusting situation (i.e. dirty diaper, messy meal time, spit, snot etc.) a baby will inevitably present in the few hours we are gone, deal with an upset baby, and give a baby undivided attention until said baby falls asleep (which may not necessarily be at his usual bed time, hence the disruption in his routine). I decided against one of my Sunday School kids since I figured we would get back kind of late for a school night, plus I don't know if any of them would be up for changing diapers. Then I finally decided I would ask my work study at school. She has a toddler brother that she cares for often, and she lives pretty close to us. I decided I would ask her as soon as we returned from Christmas holidays. (We got our birthday presents early.) Of course, school did not get off to a predictable start. We had three snow days in one week, and I didn't get a chance to see my work study then. Later in that week, Jeffrey and I decided to take Jude to one of our basketball games since I teach so many of the players and Jude generally just likes to be out and about. While at the game, one of Jeffrey's students came up to see us and play with Jude. Jude absolutely loved her. He laughed and flirted the entire game. At one point she took him to the concession stand and he never even whimpered, never even missed me! Needless to say, we hired her, and she will arrive at our house tomorrow night at 6:00. While I think she will do a great job and have a good time hanging out with Jude, I am still a nervous wreck. What if Jude misses me or needs me? What if he starts crying when I leave and doesn't stop? What if I get home and he's sat in a dirty diaper for hours on end? Of course, this girl won't do things exactly the way I will. Heck, I'm hoping she'll do better! I've already decided that I would go ahead and get Jude bathed and in pajamas before she arrives, and I would put him in disposable diapers instead of his usual cloth ones. For dinner, I will fix homemade chicken tenders, macaroni and cheese, and broccoli (still trying to come up with dessert). I think that menu is something both babies and college students can enjoy. She'll have to feed him his dinner because of the time we have to leave, but like Weezy-cat, Jude pretty much loves whoever has the plate of food. Last night and tonight, Jeffrey and I have spent cleaning the house from top to bottom because part of my nervousness comes from not wanting her to go back and tell her friends, mutual students of mine and Jeffrey's, that the Browns have a nasty house. Anyway, I hope everything goes well and that we all can enjoy our evening. I realize in the grand scheme of things that hiring a baby-sitter is pretty insignificant--until you hire one for your child, that is!