Little Friend Next Door

There's no shortage of cute children in a family ward. Several live next door. Yesterday I babysat one of our personal favorites, Gavin. He'll be three in September, and Jesse and I have babysat him before. The reason he hasn't been deleted from our list of clientèle is that he's so cute, but also incredibly well behaved.

It had been a while since we visited with him, and this time I was informed that he has graduated from his crib to a "big boy bed" and he is potty-trained. I guess that's why they had a tiny plastic toilet with a faux silver flush handle and an inviting smiley face (also nearly brimming with pee) sitting in their living room. I made a mental note not to trip over it, while wondering, "What if he gets a peristaltic urge?" Later he was excited to explain the disappearance of his diapers by pointing to his underwear and triumphantly yelling, "I'm wearing panties!"

I had to explain that his newly acquired article of clothing technically has another name. My goal for the evening was to get him to recite a new mantra: "boys wear briefs, girls wear panties."

At dinner, Gavin sat at the table with me and Jesse and entertained us with his version of "Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star," into which he inserted random lines from the ABC song and "The Wheels on the Bus." After dinner he helped Jesse water the dead grass, although he insisted that the huge concrete slab in our backyard get its share of water, along with the east side of the fence.

Then, when it was bed time, I thought I'd have to be more persuasive to tear him away from his Thomas the Train DVD, I was pleasantly surprised when I said, "Okay, bed time." He looked at me and said, "Okay, let's go," and took my hand to lead me upstairs. He got up into his bed, wrapped himself up in a cocoon of blankets with only his blonde head poking out, and said goodnight.

A few minutes later he was whining about how I didn't put on his music--which his mom forgot to mention. I played the CD and said goodnight.

A few minutes later he was crying. This time when I went up to check on him he said, "Cuddle me." So I had to get in his bed and find a square inch of space among the 500 stuffed elephants and lions on the side. He scooted closer, two inches from my face and stared at me while I pretended to be asleep. I had to peek every few minutes to see if he was asleep yet, but he stayed awake, just lying there, thinking about who knows what.

What seemed like eons later, after both my arms had become tingly from falling asleep, I heard little snoring noises. "Yes!" I thought. With the stealth of a clumsy ninja, I crept off the bed and tiptoed two feet before I heard a creak in the floorboards. Gavin sat straight up and looked at me in the dark and said, "Where are you going?"

So I had to start all over again. It took him about an hour and fifteen minutes to actually fall asleep.