Taking a day off

I babysat for Braydon on Tuesday (my regular day) and Wednesday (his other babysitter and daughter had a stomach flu), and woke up several times last night with back pain. I was hoping the phone wasn't going to ring again at 6:30 asking if I could babysit again (who gets over the stomach flu in one day? conscientious babysitters, that's who!), because I'm not sure I could have said yes. Brayden knows I don't pick him up unless absolutely necessary (boo boo's that need to be kissed are, of course, a necessity). If he wants me to pick him up, we walk over to the nearest chair and sit down and I sit him in my lap. But the other thing that really affects my back is stooping over to pick toys up off the floor -- and I tend to do that a LOT. Yesterday it occurred to me that this little boy loves to clean, so when he was done with one toy, I asked him to clean it up before he moved on to the next. He did a good job! Brayden and I were sitting at the kitchen table and he was upset with me for telling him no about something (I forget what). Keep in mind, this little one is not yet two (March 1st). Well, he bit me. Bit my finger in anger. I put him down on the floor, and I simply said, "You bit Umma. You know where you have to go, right?" He nodded his sad little face. I said, "Go ahead." And off he went -- to plop himself down in the "time out chair"! Now, you would think that means that he's been in the time out chair a million times, so he knew the drill. But no! I've only ever had to put him in the chair one other time, and that was about two or three months ago! I looked in and there he sat, with his little hands in his lap, looking very glum. I set the kitchen timer for 2 minutes, and told him to stay in the chair until the timer went off. He sat so quietly in that chair the entire time, I was just amazed. When the timer went off I went in and told him that I'd put him in the chair because he bit me, and that he shouldn't bite people -- it hurts them. I asked him to tell me he was sorry (which he does with a zillion kisses and extra big hugs), and I told him I loved him (another zillion kisses and extra big hugs) and off we went. I can't say which I'm more in awe of -- this little boy's sweet accomodating personality, or my daughter's obvious excellent parenting skills. I guess it's a combination of both, but my heart gives credit to each in their own rite. So today is going to be a back healing day. Usually I just need one day to re-coop from this. I will do laundry today and maybe 30 minutes or so of quilting, but I will not vac or wash a floor or take out trash (luckily, it doesn't need it!) or anything that involves stooping or leaning. I may even ice my back and get on the heating pad for a bit -- and motrin, motrin, motrin.