Tonight I went out for Sushi with my sister, Cindy. My neighbor girl babysat for Jordan and Madelynn. Before making my kids their own version of fine dining (macaroni and cheese), she took them to the park.
When I came home at the end of the night, the babysitter (we’ll call her Babysitter A for the sake of the story) gave me an overview of my children’s behavior–including details from the park outing. It appeared that Maddi spotted a different girl at the playground with a group of friends (this is someone we recently met and discovered has her certificate for babysitting from the YMCA–we’ve been planning a date for her to babysit sometime soon for the first time at our home–we’ll call her Babysitter B.)
Well…Babysitter B "pushed" one of her friends that was standing nearby in a circle. (As she was relaying the story, Babysitter A quickly explained to me that the preteen-girls were playing and the "push" was done in jest.) When Maddi witnessed the interaction she marched up to Babysitter B, pointed her little finger in reprimand and said, "Don’t push! You push? You not coming to us house!"
Babysitter B tried to make clear to Maddi that it was just a little joke with her friends. At this point Jordan stepped up, crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Maddi, stand behind me." Then looking at Babysitter B he asked, "What did you say to my sister?"
Babysitter A found the entire exchange endearing as Jordan came immediately to his sister’s defense. Luckily, Babysitter B was also amused (we need to stay friends with our babysitters!).
It reminded me of yesterday when a service-tech came to our home to clean the air-vents. This hadn’t been done since the house was constructed. When he arrived, Maddi squared him up and down and then said with a giggle, "It’s kinda busy around here." He joined in her exuberant laugh.
She’s honest, straightforward and somehow finds a way for it all to come out sweet. And just in case it doesn’t, Jordan will cross his arms and clarify.
