Sugar and spice and all things nice
Tonight I had a totally unexpected opportunity. I babysat for Kyra and Megan Mulder at the last moment (I was asked at around 3 pm today) because Rachel had had a rough day and Curtis was doing the very nice, very loving, very thoughtful husband thing and taking her out for the evening. Sabrina was the first one Curtis asked to sit and she asked me because she had previous plans. I felt kind of bad because I had to change some plans I already had but it all worked out in the end. We made cupcakes and for whatever reason they found my sound effects very amusing. I would do things like say, "Hmm ... I wonder where your mom keeps the forks ... doo doo doo de doo .... I have no idea" the little pseudo-musical interlude sent Megs into fits of laughter. They accidentally dribbled cake batter on my jeans. Fits of laughter. We sat down to watch Dora the Explorer and for reasons I can't remember Megs tried to get me to smell her feet. I have no idea why. But I kept trying to get her to stop and finally Kyra looks at me and goes, "Well, I'm being good." Megs is a goof; Kyra is the straight laced one. At least from what I saw tonight. After I had put them to bed I went up to check on them about half an hour later and found Kyra reading by night light. I told her to go to sleep, and when I checked on them later, she had. This reminded me of all the stories I had heard about JJ as a boy. He LOVED books. He still loves books. He reads more books than anyone I know. And he remembers the stuff he reads. It's a little unnerving how much stuff that man has in his brain. But when he was little his mom would have to stop him reading and make him go play with his friends. I could easily envision him reading by night light or flashlight after being sent to bed and when I told him the story when he called tonight, I was right. It was totally something he did. Some things that really amazed me about my Mulder girls experiences tonight: * Before the girls went to bed we all prayed together. Wow. How different would my life be, I wonder sometimes, if that was how I was sent to bed at night. * I can actually handle girls. I had always thought that I would have to have boys if I ever had kids just because I had no idea what to do with girls. I mostly have this fear that if I have a girl she's going to grow up to be a princess and I have so little tolerance for princess-ness that it would drive me nuts. Kyra and Megs proved that little girls can be little girls without being princesses. Good news for me. * Our pastors, or at least Benji and Curtis, have some of the most well-behaved children I've ever encountered. Or maybe they were just nice because I was new. Either way, it was fun. I hope Kyra and Megs thought it was fun, too. Oh, and Rachel already put up her Christmas tree. It's very pretty.