Feeling Decadent

For the second Thursday in a row, C and I have hired a babysitter to watch Wild Man so we could attend his department holiday party last week and mine tonight. I have to say, I feel a bit decadent. Last week, things were a bit more rushed, as the party started earlier. We dropped Wild Man off at Dr. Nice Guy's house because his teenage son had graciously agreed to watch Wild Man. Now, Wild Man loves both of Dr. Nice Guy's sons, but he loves this one in particular, whom I will call T. In fact, it had been several weeks since Wild Man had seen him, but last week he ran up the steps to their house calling out his name. When we got to their house after the party, around 7:30 or so, Wild Man absolutely refused to leave. He behaved perfectly for T, and then, we arrived. He threw a huge tantrum, which is fairly unusual for him, because he didn't want to leave T. This week T came over to our house as my department party started later. When I told him what time we'd be home, T encouraged us to stay out later than we'd planned. After we left the party, we actually went out for dessert just the two of us. I honestly can't remember the last time I was out after 7:00 with my husband. Oh, yes I can: my birthday in June. It is so lovely to have a reliable, trustworthy, and affordable babysitter.

Baby-sitter success

Despite our worries, last night was a rousing success. Wild Man's baby-sitter, Miss A, who is a teacher at his school, arrived promptly at 6:00, and she listened to all of my neurotic instructions. I kept apologizing for telling her so much; I mean she took care of him for 6 1/2 hours a day for 6 months before he moved to another room. He loves her, she loves him, and they know each other. Still, C and I were both concerned that Wild Man would give her trouble, especially when it came to bed time. But he went to bed fairly easily. And as far as we can tell, she followed our instructions perfectly. She did let him stay up a little later than usual, but I had told her that was ok. Miss A played with him while C and I finished getting ready, and then she started giving him his bath just as we were leaving. Wild Man apparently conned her into reading way more than the allotted 4 books before bedtime, but he was in his crib by 7:40, which is only a little later than usual. He didn't fall asleep right away, which isn't out of the ordinary. He didn't, however, ask for me or ask to nurse, which is huge. He was asleep by 8:00, and Miss A said she spent the next hour watching TV. As C and I drove away, we looked at each other and said, "This is really weird" at the same time. I kept my cell phone on the table throughout dinner, which was super tasty, but she never called. After dinner, we walked around a local fountain for a bit and just talked. It was so nice to put on perfume and a heels, to have a nice meal and to drink a fancy cocktail, and to talk to my husband without worrying if Wild Man was going to try to eat the table cloth, dump ketchup on himself, or have a meltdown. I'm not sure why we haven't done that before, but if Miss A is willing, we're definitely going to do it again.

All in all, it was a wonderful birthday!

A night out

Today is my birthday, and C and I have decided to be extravagant. We've actually hired a baby-sitter, something we've never done before. Wild Man and I just spent the last 45 minutes going through my closet determining which shoes go best with the dress I'm going to wear. Yes, that's right--I'm wearing a dress and heels, we're going out to a fancy restaurant for my birthday, and we hired a baby-sitter all in the same night!