Background

"For attractive lips, speak works of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone."

-Audrey Hepburn

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Eve & Oak

A little while ago I took care of my cousin's two adorable children while she and her husband took a much needed vacation to NYC. I was excited, and happy to help, but I have to be honest....I was a bit nervous. My babysitting days seems like eons ago and although I have spent a good amount of time with Eve and Oak this was Becky and Scott's first time away and it was really important that the weekend go well.


Here are a few of the highlights:


-Homemade play dough! 



-Snuggling. ALWAYS a favorite.

-Oak calling me mom....more like "Ma" all weekend. It was great!
-Eve pretending to eat Oak. "Oh no!" I cried, grabbing her stomach "Give him back!" She would then spit him back out and before I was done cheering she would gobble him up again saying, "I ate Oak! Now he is turning into poop!"

-Eve helping me drive. Don't panic....she was in her car seat the WHOLE time. She has learned that the yellow signs on the road mean to be careful or watch out. Each time we would pass one I would hear, "Whitney, watch out for walking people, Ok".....or "Whitney watch out for cars, ok"....or "Whitney watch out for the turn".

-Notes from Eve. That's right....she is not even 4 yet and she is writing. She spells phonetically so she will write down the letters as she sounds out the word. For example: "Whitney.....W.....I.....T.....E.....Whitney!" As you can see sometimes letters are left out. The worst was when she would hand the note to me and watch me read it then ask, "What does it say?" "Uhhh....." frantically trying to decipher her writing...."I don't know Eve." "YES you do! You know these letters!"

-Eve was Daniel for most of the weekend. She would walk around talking as if she was in the lions den and every time I would call for her, "Hey Eve" she would correct me, "I'm Daniel"....or "Eve, do you want to go home and play with the play dough like we did yesterday?" she would respond, "I don't know....you will have to ask Eve when she comes back." The amazing thing is that she stayed in character (except for a few minutes here or there) for TWO days!

-One of the times Eve was not Daniel she decided to be another "visitor". "Whitney, look over here and pretend you see someone coming down from the clouds." She straightened up and walked very slowly and deliberately towards me with her hands out....palms up. "Oak! I think I see someone coming down out of the sky! Who could it be?" "I'm Jesus" Eve replied in a low soothing voice. "Jesus?? You came to visit Oak and me?" "Yes, the disciples are back fixing the boat". She then continued to ask various questions like, "What is this (referring to the play dough)?"..."Where is Eve"...."What are you doing?"....."Are you so excited to see me?" She then explained that she had to go help the disciples with the boat, but wanted to make sure I let Eve know that Jesus came to visit. A few seconds later Eve, playing herself, ran back into the room bright eyed “Whitney, did anyone come and visit??”