Weekend with the Babysitter

So Greg and I left Ryan with a babysitter for the first time at night.....I was a little nervous but everything went smoothly, thankfully. We found the best babysitter she is an elementary education/psychology major in a 5 year master's program. In my desperate search for a babysitter I had posted signs at Sacred Heart but only in Nursing, Education, and Chemistry/Biology departments. I had a few inquiries but this sitter seemed like the best fit for us. I never knew how hard it would be to find a babysitter and find the RIGHT sitter for our family. You see I am super neurotic about certain things..like setting the rules of our house. Also it is quite different setting ground rules to someone other than a close friend or family member. I felt sort of mean....what do you guys think about these rules?

1. Ryan is only allowed to eat in his high chair- (Demonstrated Heimlich maneuver) no wandering with food
2. Pacifier and bunny blanket stay in the crib for nap time only
3. No TV for Ryan want to prolong this as long as possible
4. Light house work...translating to please pick up the toys and clean the dishes ect.
5. Please try to be on time

I know these seem like basic common sense rules but you would be surprised. I took a lot of advice from Sarah (Caroline's mom) before deciding on a sitter. Thanks for all the helpful tips!

So anyways sorry to get side tracked...We ended up leaving Ryan with our sitter on Sat for my work Christmas party. She was left to put our sleeping giant to bed and then left to deal with Dylan the puppy who tends to bark a lot when I am away. She said he only fussed for a few minutes when she put him down and then he was asleep. I told her to call us around 9 PM so I would not spend the entire night worrying if he slept or not that way I could enjoy the rest of the night and not have to call and be the neurotic mother that I am. So She did a fantastic job and cleaned up the toys and the dishes. And the best part is Ryan really likes her a lot.

We left him with the sitter again on Sunday so we could do a little Christmas shopping....Greg said "wow she gets to see Ryan in full force and all his babying she does not know what she is in for" You see on Saturday night she only had him for an hour and a half before he went to bed for the night...but Sunday she had to give him lunch and a snack and put him down for a nap. Like I said earlier she is doing a fantastic job and Ryan really likes her alot. He flirts and bats his eyelashes at her it is so cute. He even did not notice when we left on Sunday.

So yeah leaving Ryan with a sitter was not easy for me. It is very hard for me to leave him..I don't want to miss anything or have anything happen to him...But I realize now he is a year old and I feel a bit more comfortable now that he is older. I do feel that Greg and I deserved this night and day out alone sans baby. We did miss him the entire time though but it was so much easier shopping and running around the cowded mall without lugging around a stroller. Greg and I got to spend some great quality time together before he leaves for his trip it was so nice! We are so thankful that we found the right sitter for our needs.

Yesterday when I picked up Ryan at Polina's her husband was playing with him and he called him Dada...I though it was so cute...he does call Greg Dada or Daddy, but he also calls Uncle Freddie Dada too so we are thinking he at least associates Dada with men who knows....

Today we went over to Sarah's for a play date. Ryan just adores her baby dolls and Caroline has a little baby carriage and he just loves putting the baby in the carriage and pushing her around. He even gave the baby a ride on the rocking horse. So cute all the babies seem drawn to this baby carriage. Ryan and his friends are at the stage where they really enjoy pushing/pulling anything, and they love the concept of putting things in a basket and taking them out over and over again. Ryan and Caroline tooks turns on the rocking horse and sat together rocking in the big chair.

Ryan also had a new found love to play in our upstairs stand up shower. He loves to step inside and practice stacking the shampoo bottles up and knocking them down. It makes it easy for me to to ready in the morning but he ends up getting a little wet sometimes. He almost dropped his little bunny blanket in the toilet today (practicing his favorite skill putting things in and taking them out)....thankfully I caught him just in the nick of time...phew...gotta remember to keep that toilet down at all times. That would have completely sabotaged nap time and been a complete disaster!

Hope Grammy and Grandad are enjoying the warm sunny Florida weather. We are all feezing cold up here. Miss everyone and we hope to see you all soon!