Magic Babysitter

Occasionally when our family is busy or for the sake of convenience, we hire a babysitter. We have used the same young teenaged girl each time, a responsible daughter of a friend.

This quiet young skater girl does not come off as one with super powers, but we have come to believe otherwise.

Example #1: First time she babysits several months ago, we unknowingly leave her with a grouchy teething 14 month old. Unable to get her to sleep, the babysitter says "I just held her until she went to sleep!"

Crazy says what? Since turning one, I have only gotten this child to fall alseep in my arms twice, when she was absolutely exhausted. Her father, the baby sleep whisperer himself, has had no luck with this. My grandma, who takes great pride in having walked 3 generation of babies to sleep singing her famous "bya, bya" song has met with no success, declaring "There must be something wrong with this child. Every child melts in my arms!"

Example #2: Tonight we leave the 19 month old with the aforementioned babysitter with the instructions that her bed time is 8 pm, but that she can be flexible because she had taken a 3.5 hour nap this afternoon. I fully expect to come home to a report that our daughter was up until 9 pm or later, but much to my surprise, she reports, "Yeah, we were reading books on the couch around 7:45. After she brought me the last book, she laid her head on my lap, and she was asleep before I finished the book."

WHAT? Now its time to test the kool-aid. Never in all her days has our daughter just fallen asleep in the middle of the living room, lights on, with no coaxing. She is quick to go to sleep in her own bed, when all of the conditions are met (music, darkness, bear, and fan)...but not in the FREAKING LIVING ROOM.

Some might start to wonder if this sitter is prone to fable, but I am fully convinced that she is not. But she certainly has a power over our daughter that I neither possess or understand -- but certainly appreciate!!!