Jane locked herself in the closet today. I have never seen laughter turn into such hysterical crying so quickly...bless her heart! As I was awing over my daughter's crazy "freak out", I realized that I should probably give her a break..she is MY daughter after all. And it is no mystery where she gets her uncanny ability to have one heck of an instantaneous "freak out"...she gets it from ME!!! Yes, I have been known to whip up a rather stunning "freak out" at the drop of a hat. Jane, reminded me of myself far too much today!!
That reminded of a time, several years back when I used to babysit weekly, four VERY energetic boys. These were the type of boys that you couldn't take your eyes off of for one second for fear of something exploding, breaking or dying. On this particular day I had the boys settled down watching a super hero movie (an absolute life saver, when it comes to babysitting boys). I decided I would take that small window of time to go to the bathroom. Knowing my time was limited, I ran to the bathroom and decided I'd better be sure to lock the door- "what if one of the boys walked in on me...what a nightmare that would be" I thought.
Now this bathroom must have been used as a "time-out" spot or a small dungeon by the parents...(I wouldn't put it past them with these boys...)because it only had a lock on the outside of the door. Due to my lack of brain function when I am rushing, I pressed the lock button in and closed the door. After I had finished the job in the bathroom, as quickly as possible, naturally I attempted to exit. This is where I realized that I had locked myself in this tiny bathroom. It was feeling more like a dungeon every minute!
Visions of a destroyed house, a dead toddler, and three boys, high on the forbidden sugar stash hidden away in the kitchen, running up the street like wild animals danced through my head. Here is when the "freak out" came, coupled with cold sweats, short breaths and small black-outs. I knew if I yelled to the boys to come help me because I was locked in the bathroom, letting me out would be the last thing they would do. They would most definitely see this as the opportunity of a life time and commence the chaos immediately. No, I had to think of a better plan. I spent several minutes tinkering with the door handle and looking through cupboards for sharp objects of any kind. Perhaps I could dig my way out?!
Finally, I could see that my attempts were folly and too much time had passed. My only hope was that there was some decency left in the world of little boys, and I yelled for them to come help. I decided to leave out the part where I was locked like a prisoner in the bathroom. To my awe and surprise, one of the boys answered my distress call. Rather impatiently he opened the door (thankfully not realizing it had been locked) and said "what do you want? Gosh, I am missing the best part of the movie." I said "Oh, I forgot" trying to act natural. I didn't want my lack of adult responsibility getting back to their parents. I ran into the room where all four boys were sitting the exact way I had left them...Thank heaven for super hero movies!!!!
She was also pretty excited about the ginormous bath tub she got to play in...
The other day we whipped out the bubbles, and Jane was simply enthralled with them. They kept her occupied for a good...10 minutes...amazing. Check out this unlikely shot...what are the odds?
She loves when they hit her in the face!! Ah bubbles, fun for her...mess for me...
It's little moments and smiles like these that make all the not so pleasant moments worth it. I really love our little Janer!!
In an effort to maintain my sanity I try to do things for me every now and then. I played in yet, another volleyball tournament the other day- they never get old- and we won the whole thing...it was a blast. I also got to play with my good friend from high school which was a lot of fun!!
...which he opened swiftly and crazily like he was 6 years old again...Exaclty three seconds later, he had his toys out and was playing with them excitedly.
