Nov 02 2008
Soccer and a Forgotten Memo
We had a beautiful day for Gus’s soccer game yesterday and got a bit of a surprise. A boy who he had been on the bus with two years ago was at the field watching his sister play. The boy, T., was always a really sweet kid and so nice to Gus. He’s in the 8th grade now and in “regular school,” which he was very proud to tell me. It was great to see him! T. sat at the sidelines with me watching the game, talking my ear off about any and everything, and volunteering to help out on the field if needed. One of the players got a little tired out and lay down in the middle of the field. T. was right there (he knew the girl) coaxing her back to her mom. Really an awesome young man.
I’m having a bit of a dilemma. T. does babysitting, and I will be needing one soon. My biggest issue is that I have a general unease with leaving my kids with a) teenagers and b) males - any males (strictly my own issue and not indicative of any inherent inability of men to care for children) . While my kids are generally good, especially for other people, you just never know when there will be an ‘issue’ and I always worry that one will crop up and the sitter won’t be able to handle it. Now, one thing in T’s favor is that since he’s an Aspie and also knows Gus pretty well, he’d have a better insight into how to calm Gus if he got upset about something. My concern would be pretty much the same as with any of the other teens I’ve considered hiring - attention and ability to control two rambunctious kids. Also, T. doesn’t live very close, so having him babysit at night may be difficult.
On a completely unrelated note, someone forgot to give Gus the time-change memo. He was up at 4, which was sort of 5, too early at any rate. He’s back to the early rising and I’m thinking of trying melatonin to help with sleep, at least until we can get him into a pattern of sleeping a little later.
If you have any thoughts on either the babysitting issue or the melatonin, I’d love some input! Have a great Sunday!
