Babysitting ONE toddler is hard enough but babysitting TWO toddlers is a difficult task to do. I spent the majority of my summer babysitting two of the wildest toddlers I know, my brother and my youngest sister — best form of birth control!
The oldest and the mastermind of the two is Paisley, she is four years old going on 14. She's the plotter, bargains, and boy, does she debate and argue! Madden, the baby of the family, is three years old and he completely milks the whole baby thing — sorry, mom! Madden is the charmer, woos you with those green eyes but is a sneaky one! He'll distract you with a cry for help, begs for lots of "big hugs" while he side-eye watches Paisley start taking action on her well planned out chaos!
Take it from me, a little advise from a babysitter extraordinaire...
1. Babysitting two toddlers requires CONSTANT supervision!
If you as much as BLINK, there will be chaos! I had to learn this the hard way, mom, stop reading!!! The day started off with a normal, everyday morning. Two kids screaming for milk and breakfast! After a brief run downstairs to grab a charger, I entered the main floor to silence. Anyone that's been around toddlers know that silence means trouble! I could vaguely hear one upstairs getting in lord knows what and the other in the kitchen. Which would you attend to first? This question puzzled me as I tried to decide which was going to be the messiest.
I ended up attending to the closest wildling first, Madden. He was found at the scene with pots and pans everywhere, cups and food out all over the floor, placemats that I've never seen before everywhere, and a mixture of water and juice spilled ALL over the floor. You can imagine my face when I saw that a tornado hit my moms kitchen.
BUT WAIT... where is Paisley? I grabbed Madden and ran upstairs to see what other mess awaited for me. Paisley was found in my mom's bathroom playing in her makeup, my moms Christian Louis Vuitton Matte lipstick on all the bathroom mirrors, lotion in her hair, spraying all kinds of sprays everywhere, and millions of hair clip landmines.
BUT WAIT... now where's Madden?? Since Madden insists on never listening to me, he left the corner I put him in while I dealt with the other wildling. Madden decided it would be a good idea to poop in his pants and then fling it all over the hallway! I advise anyone who watches two toddlers to tape their eyes open!
2. Whatever one does, the other HAS to do!
Babysitting two toddlers is double the trouble! We had just moved into a brand new house. Freshly painted walls and everything! When my mom decided to get the walls freshly painted, she had no idea that they weren't going to last very long. The walls quickly filled with drawlings and scribbles all over. Every corner you turned there was a mutated Picasso drawing on the wall done by wildling #1 and wildling #2. Watch out for what one toddler does because chances are, the other toddler is doing the same thing!
3. Watch what you do, they mimic everything!
When babies reach toddler age, they start to copy everything you do and say. I realized this when I found wildling #1 and wildling #2 twerking in the middle of a graduation party. Babysitting comes with the duty to clean almost every second of the day, which means lots of jamming out to music! As a typical 19-year-old, I liked to teach Paisley the "whip," "nae-nae," "milly rock," etc. — It was truly entertaining. My family and I attended a graduation party where everyone sat around the dance floor.
As I sat down to eat my food, I started to hear laughter. I turned around to see what people were laughing at. My eyes immediately locked on Paisley and Madden, the only two on the dance floor, twerking! I looked around the room to find my mom to see if she was witnessing what her wildlings were doing. Her jaw was dropped as far as it could go in shock as she watched her two "innocent" babies twerk on the dance floor- I have no idea where they learned that!
4. Be aware of strange actions at all times!
Babysitting toddlers means seeing lots of strange things. One of Maddens finest skills consists of peeing and pooping in yards — a true talent! The second day of babysitting the two wildlings, I took them outside to play — I really took them outside in hopes that they would get tired and fall asleep but you didn't hear that from me! I was sitting on the driveway scrolling through twitter when I looked up and saw Madden with his pants off peeing in the front yard. I tried to get him to simply walk inside to pee in a toilet but he continued to start peeing while saying, "Noooo, I have to pee on the GRASSSSS!"
Expect the unexpected!
5. Say goodbye to your privacy
Forget trying to seclude yourself in any room, the two toddlers will never let you be alone! You ALWAYS have an audience watching everything you do! I couldn't even use the bathroom in peace without Paisley and Madden opening the door asking me what I was doing! Forget locking the door, too, because they will just bang and scream the entire time! Instead....embrace it, love it, because there's no fighting it!
6. Say goodbye to your personal belongings!
One week after getting a BRAND NEW iPhone 7, I was on the couch watching cartoons with Madden. Paisley, being the mastermind that she is, plotted to take my phone. She was trying to play "Snapchat" — she really likes the filters. I looked over at her and our eye locked, it was at this moment when she dropped my phone, with no case on it yet, on the tile floor. Not even two weeks of having my new phone and it was COMPLETELY shattered! I never held my anger in as hard as I did at that moment.
After mourning the death of my phone screen, I took Madden and Paisley to play outside — hopefully nap time soon!!!! After pushing Madden on the swing, my phone goes missing again- hmm wonder who took it! I look at paisley standing on the concrete. Worried about my already injured phone, I ran to her and told her to give me the phone. It was as if I watched my phone drop in slow motion when she missed my hand while handing me my phone- my mom still thinks that I am the one who dropped it. Rest in peace to my phone.
Babysitting two toddlers this summer may have caused me to gain many grey hairs but at least my mom paid me!
