Babysitting

Someone from our relief society web site advertised that her daughter needed a babysitter. I haven't babysat Rianna in a couple weeks so I figured sure I can help out. It turned out that his mom works at the mall around the corner from my house. His name is Kody and he is two. His mom is April. April's parents had been watching Kody but he got to be a bit much for them. It was described for me that he was just very active and into stuff. Not a big deal, I can handle that. The first day was fine. The second day, I babysat later at night and you could tell he was tired. The third day he cried from the time that his mom left until she came to pick him. It was a very long day. Then this week Rianna's dad needed me to babysit almost everyday. Now Kody screams when they pull into the driveway. We figure it is a big adjustment for him to be in a stranger's house who does things very different and can't pay attention to him all the time. His mom seems like a very doting woman. He is not distractable like most kids, cartoons are his favorite and they only last a few minutes of distraction. He want to stand next to the window and scream. He fights everything I try to get him calm. I have never had this hard of a time with any kid. Yesterday, his sister came over with him. She is 9. So I had 8 kids under 9. He was able to see his sister go and play with the girls. That seemed to help. He didn't cry as much. They watch a lot of TV in their house so he doesn't play well. He bit Jamie a couple times. He does like to color and I have to careful, he has tried to color on my furniture and walls. Jon has been a huge help in trying to calm Kody down. I'm hoping that Kody is slowly getting used to our routine and soon he won't fight so much. We are plenty busy with the business. The kids just started their summer chores today. Which involves me "encouraging" them to get it done and going step by step teaching. After they get into habits hopefully I'll have a chance of keeping up with the laundry and dishes. My garden is doing great. And Leah is crawling at full speed now. Having 2 two year old that both want to pick her up and "help" her was probably her motivation. She is one tough, tolerant kid.