The Sitter’s Sitter

Last week, Nick and I indulged in not one, but two nights out of the home past 7pm at the same time. This is quite a remarkable feat for us having spent the last six months socializing in shifts so one of us is home to put the little one to bed.

The amazing Grandma Patti and her friend Nadine (a truly dynamic babysitting duo) took care of Cal on Saturday night so Nick and I could attend a party. Celebrating one of Nick’s good friend’s engagement was definitely a great reason to raise a glass, or four, but what I learned from this second night out was that the temporary freedom afforded by a wonderful care taker has its limits. Specifically, those limits become quite apparent at 5am when the wonderful babysitter has long since departed and you have a little early bird eagerly chirping from the room next door announcing his enthusiasm to start his day.

There is not enough water, Advil, and coffee in San Francisco to fake the energy needed to pull off this kind of early morning wake-up call with true gusto. Upon reaching the realization that the little bugger was not going back to sleep, I found myself whining into my pillow for Mary Poppins (or at that point, let’s face it, a Poppins intern on their first assignment would do) to magically appear and whisk little Cal into the living room for a few hours of quiet playtime while we slept off the night before. What I needed was a sitter’s sitter -someone to finish the job!

While at six months we are definitely turning a corner in terms of being more comfortable leaving Cal at night, I have to remember that, upon our return, our wonderful care takers will turn into pumpkins and we will ultimately be left with our own little pumpkin who has no idea that it is the weekend or that we might really need him to sleep in just 2 extra hours just this one time! I may have been too ambitious with two nights out in one week - take it easy with that return to socializing after hours, easy does it.