Babysitter

We hired our first paid babysitter yesterday to watch Molly. One of our neighbors has a college-age niece who watches a lot of the neighborhood kids and I've been trying to book her for something, anything, just to test it out and see how Molly would do.

Molly was skeptical -- up until yesterday morning she was saying, "I don't want to play with Meg." But she also told me she didn't want to come with me to my dentist appointment, so I took a gamble.

Right before Meg arrived, I mentioned to Molly that she might want to pick some magazines to show her and pick some CDs in case Meg likes to dance. So Molly went off somewhere to gather stuff and as Meg came in the door Molly brought her a magazine, then brought her over to the window to show her the moon in the sky, then brought her to her bedroom to change into a dress, etc. Good sign.

I hung around washing dishes for a little while just to make sure everything was cool. When I left Molly hardly even noticed. She was rocking out to The Cure, hanging on to her bed rail and swinging her head around with Meg dancing nearby.

I was gone less than two hours and I think they had a good time. Meg said Molly seemed to have everything planned. She wanted to paint, then she wanted to go outside for a walk in the green stroller, then she wanted to go on the swing, then play in the sandbox. Sounds familiar. :)

After Meg left, Molly snuggled with me and her sippy cup and told me bits and pieces about the morning. I said, "so you had a good time?" She said yes, then she said no, a bad time. I asked her what was bad about it and she said she didn't know. I asked her if it was because I wasn't there with her and she said, "yes." So that was her little protest -- she wanted me to know she didn't have a good time.

Also, since Meg left she's been calling me Mom instead of Mommy or Mama. It's a little unsettling but I'm getting used to it. I'm sure she'll revert back to Mommy soon enough.