Kids for the day....

August 13, 2012

“I was just wondering…my wife and I need to go to a luncheon today, and we need someone to watch the kids for a couple of hours. Any chance you can do it?”
“Can I DO it??? How much will I owe you?!”

I love their kids - three of them, 9, 6, and 5. They are precious, and I haven’t seen much of them all summer. During the school year, when weather was nice and I kept my door open, they were up at my place most afternoons, if only to say hi and get some snacks. (Little Ezra told me recently, “Yeah, Miss Maria, that’s why we love to come to your house! ‘Cause you have the BEST apples!” Which is so cute, because their mom knows this, and has told me, We HAVE apples!” I’m touched. Have I mentioned that I LOVE those kids?!)

They would be here for two hours with me, and I was kind of wondering what we would do for that time, on a rainy morning. Thinking that seemed like a long time, I had a mental list of possible activities. (None of which we needed after all!)  Up they came at 10:00, library books and sweatshirts in hand. Just in case. First item on the agenda was snacks - apples, of course, and some water. Little Eva wanted to sit on the back porch, so out we all filed to munch and visit.

 For two minutes, until they were on the stairs and down the stairs, and over to the palm trees to check out the orange fruit on the ground. (The rains magically had subsided!) EVERYthing is a game and a toy, intriguing and fun to them. The fruit became ammunition from a slingshot, baseballs for a palm frond bat, and things to be squished underfoot. Climbing the tree, knocking off the fruit, finding bugs in the trunk, pulling off dead parts of the tree. . . it’s all in the moment’s play for them. No missed opportunity for discovery or destruction! J

“Should we show her our secret hut?”
“YES!! Come and see our hut!”
In what can loosely be called our backyard, is a cluster of a few palms and bushes that are, well, natural (aka neglected and unkempt) - a perfect place for a secret hideout.

Into the umbrella of the palms we went, hunkered down and watching our steps. Lots of tenacious, thorny vines love to grow around the tree, and are vicious and prevalent. So while they swept the ‘living room’ floor with a palm branch, I headed in for my pruning shears and gloves. Evah ran to her yard for a bucket for the refuse, and dive into cleaning the hut, we did. Pulling and tugging, clipping and raking, we cleared out a lot of them and suddenly, the hut was beginning to like home! A wooden plank became the kitchen table for our snacks, dead branches and palm leaves became walls, and a couple of towels were our furniture. It was lovely! We even found a way to combat the gnats and mosquitos that were in on the action, too: alcohol, cold rags, and peppermint lotion. Yea!! We were set. Hut, sweet hut!

Next, as work was done and stomachs rumbled, we decided on Waffle House, their favorite, and something of a treat for them. Off we went, ready for a few Grand Slams and waffles! Waiting for our food was just one more opportunity to play - forks and a napkin became a sailboat, spoon and a napkin, a bride, and straw and wrapper, a bb gun. Way too fun!!! Too bad there wasn’t an adult in the group! J

Our food was just what we all wanted, and was heartily and quickly consumed. Within what seemed like seconds after their last bite, the kids were up and ready to go, play, move, now that they were newly fueled. It’s such an amazing process to see in action!!! I remember being at a kids’ birthday party a few years ago, where the dad who was grilling out the burgers and hot dogs got a late start, and the kids were hot and tired after jumping on a jumping castle and running around the yard. They were sort of limply sitting around, looking bored and hungry. Finally, when the food was ready, they dived in, ate about half of what was on their plate, and literally, within a minute after eating, were back up jumping around like crazy. It blew my mind!!!

It was now off to the beach to feed our leftover toast to the seagulls. What a trip THAT is!! Once ONE gull sees food in the air or on the ground, all alerts are on, and every gull from 50 yards around comes swooping in. Well behaved, for the most part, they take turns grabbing the pieces thrown in the air. On the ground, however, it’s another story. Man! What squaking and yelling! Every bird for himself at that point.
Tide was low so we got to walk out to a shallow sandbar and cool down, look for shells, and chase seagulls. Without swimsuits, though, full immersion had to wait. We’d go get our suits and come back later. But first, off to the library while it was still open to return books and check out some new ones, with sweatshirts in tow. (It‘s cold in the library!)

The kids section of the library is so fun!! There are tables of puzzles, a dollhouse, computer games and stuffed animals. We were there for a good hour, each of us in our own little world, mellowing out and discovering all kinds of new books and games. It was already after 2pm by now; Ezra started wearing down, ready to go home and get a nap, and I was on the same page. So to speak. So we headed out with books and cd’s on Star Wars and caterpillars, Brer Rabbit and Veggie Tales, ready for some rest and reading.

Just as we were leaving, their dad called to remind them that they had a 3pm birthday party to attend. Wow! That’s a full day. They got home in time to check in, go back out and revisit the hut, run around the yard a few times, and say bye to me on the way to the party. Whew! Awesome day. I am blessed. I don’t know who had more fun - the kids or me. I think we’ll call it a tie. And now, I'm going to go take a nap!