BEYOND BABYSITTING

"Three Day"

When I settled into my apricot mango bubble bath with a glass of wine, who would have thought that I would get caught playing with a G.I. Joe action figure. Actually, he is "Steele, Max Steele", not your average G.I. Joe. He has a convertible Corvette, a jet ski, speedboat, and the accessory of my choice, a surfboard. When my boyfriend walked into the bathroom I had just discovered that Max is really limber, he crouches right into that surfer stance. But I was overwhelmed with disappointment at this moment because he sinks.

Yesterday I got to keep my friends two boys Levi and Seth. Levi, the three year old, entertained me and amused me every moment of his stay. His bath was interesting. He refused to let me see his "stuff" so I filled the tub, got the toys (this is how Max got into my bath today) and asked his big brother, Seth, to wash him for me. Exactly 18 seconds later, Seth announced that Levi was clean.

I peeked around the shower curtain and found a chocolate faced little boy enjoying Max almost as much as I do. I found a washcloth with fish on it and tried to talk Levi into pretending it was his bathing suit. He looked at me like I tried to make him touch the soap. Then I remembered a conversation between him and his mother. Levi calls his bathing suit a "Boat suit" so I said, "O.K. Pretend this fish towel is your boat suit and put it "there" so I can wash you. He agreed and I lathered him up. What tiny little toes, he giggled and made me laugh and 18 seconds later, he was clean.

Seth dressed Levi for me and a little Superman ran around my house for the evening. At one point he sat on the couch beside me and snuggled in close and we talked about the Easter Bunny coming in two days. My son, Christopher, is almost thirteen years old now so it was nostalgic for me to sit with a three year old and remember all the sweet things Chris said and did when he was small.

All evening I heard, "Nea Nea, come here…Nea Nea, 'mere…" And I gladly went back and forth from room to room putting in movies and getting crayons off the shelf. I did have the privilege of accidentally being called "Mimi" a few times. What a compliment to be mistaken for grandmother. Grandmas are those sacred angelic women that give little boys anything they want.

Levi does the cutest things. When you say, "Where's my Kiss?" Levi will touch his little lips and say, "Right here." And then you get the sweetest little pucker. Another cute thing I've noticed is that when he gets a treat or a drink he will ask for two more, for his brother and sister. He really took juice boxes home for his siblings!

We had three "episodes" of Levi needing his mother RIGHT NOW, big tears and everything. Fortunately, more chocolate worked us right through it.

The next morning when it was time to get dressed, I got his overnight bag and found three cute little outfits. Well, I had to have a Levi fashion show. I didn't tell his parents that I paraded him around my living room all his little clothes. I had to do it. Christopher's just to big now to cooperate when I need to work the cat walk. Levi's Bermuda shirts and Hawaiian shirt almost won, but I picked the denim shorts and a button up short sleeve oxford.

Then, we went to brush our teeth and Levi told me, "No, it's Three day. I only brush my teeth on One day and Two day." He assured me that his mother would confirm this for me.

Levi was with the "Big Boys" watching a movie when his mom got here. His mom, by the way, is Queen of Moms. She is the most fun, coolest, totally thoughtful mom. So, you can imagine it made me feel pretty good when he didn't run to her screaming "Get me out of here!". He just sit there like a big boy and said, "Hi, Mom".

It's really nice being Aunt Nea.