Me: Do you guys want to go to Aunt E's and Uncle S's this weekend and play with H?
Boys: YEAH!
Lad: Play H!
Boy: What are you and Daddy gonna do?
Me: Well, we're going to go out and ... (realizing I don't want to tell him we're going to the movies or something else he'll want to do) ... um, we'll do something that we like to do but you guys don't like, like, um --
Boy: Like go to a bar. To drink BEER.
Me: Actually, yeah.
----
I'm not sure what that conversation says about the husband and I. We really aren't lushes, but we do enjoy a good beer. Regardless, the point here is that we're trying a babysitting exchange with our friends, whose little boy is right in between our boys in age and who live right around the corner from us. We took their kiddo this last week; he got some work done and she went to get a manicure. It was zero extra work on our part. It actually made Sunday easier because the boys all kept each other entertained.
This weekend is our turn. Our friends are taking The Boy and The Lad after nap Saturday. I have absolutely no idea what the husband and I are going to do. (Actually, that's a lie. If I can rope him into it, we're going to look at fabric for the chair I'm getting recovered.) Just knowing that we'll have those couple hours together is making me happy this week. And let me tell you, this is the kind of week so far that requires being grateful for small blessings.
Right now, I'm pretty grateful for good friends.
Do you guys ever trade babysitting? How often do you splurge on real babysitting for date nights? (We might do that once a month, maybe.)
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
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8 comments:
I would love to find a family to do a babysitting exchange with. I probably just need to get up the guts to ask someone since I have plenty of prospects between neighbors and moms group, but I'm SHY.
I do weekday exchanges with a single mom as I'm usually alone during the week. It's supposed to be for exercising. Hahaha
I trade with my sister a lot- which is sort of unfair since she has one and I have three. However, we always do it at my house, so my hellions are at least surrounded by their own toys and movies and food. AND BEDS.
And also, in interest of full disclosure, her baby is kind of difficult to babysit (very attached to mama stage) whereas my kids are perfectly happy to boot me out the door and play with Aunt Laura all night.
What a great idea! We have a free grandma who is happy to come over, whenever she's feeling well. Lately, I've been using her to watch the kids so I can help take care of my grandmother. So, no date nights lately. :(
I don't ever do babysitting exchanges. Seems kind of unfair when I have 4 kids and so do many of my friends. 7 or 8 kids? yeah...
I wish my family lived here!
have fun!
I switch with a friend of mine all the time, but always for daytime things. We watch each other's kids for dentist appointments, parent-teacher conferences and the like. But neither set of our kids would sleep at anyone else's house and they all go to bed early, so we don't do evenings. We've occasionally gone to a movie or lunch on the weekend, but her husband is an airline pilot so his schedule isn't regular and it doesn't really lend itself to date night swapping. But babysitting swapping with a friend is the greatest thing ever.
And I have actually never hired a real babysitter ever.
We'll do daydates and dump the small people at daycare all unawares and whatnot. Or sometimes my parents will come over on a weekend day while they're napping and we'll get a few hours away.
I have a friend and we had grand plans for babysitting swapping...but then she moved away. Thumbs down.
I do this with a neighbor of mine (or at least we have TALKED about it...lots). I also did it with an old neighbor and it was great. Adding one (or two) more kids to the craziness is generally not even noticed. The more the merrier!
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