Taking a powder

Boo blogged about Jbear and his exploding baby powder this morning. Funny thing is that about 35 years ago, Muffin and I babysat with our pastor’s three boys for four days and three nights, and a similar incident occurred. The oldest of the boys, R, had lots of physical issues and at age nine, attended a special school and was just out of diapers. Breaking up his routine by introducing two people who had no children as his caretakers was really a big adjustment for him. He would tap me on the forehead and say “Where’s Mommy?” Repeatedly. Just hurt my heart. The two younger boys were two and three. They were full of it. Twenty four hours a day.

We had strict instructions to help them maintain a routine and I stayed home with them all day to be there to meet the bus when R came home from his school. B and S would wake in the pitch darkness before 6 a.m. Winter in Northern California is dark—daylight is from about 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. One of them would bang on the pillow when my head was enjoying sleep and say “I awake!” Muffin and I would roll ourselves out of bed, get him off to work, get breakfast for the boys, get R off to school, and then…let the games begin! No kidding. At two and three they were into everything. Even with me watching them.

The night we hosted Bible study at the house (planned by the pastor and wife so we would be able to stay there and get the boys to bed) we kept hearing them when they were supposed to be asleep. One of us would go it, explain that they must quiet down and go to sleep. B and S shared a room that was closest to the living room. I’m sure we were too noisy for them, and they tried to settle down. But, curiosity got the best of them and the last time we checked on them someone had emptied an entire container of baby powder into their beds and on the floor. They were wearing fuzzy red PJ’s before the “incident” and afterward, we just improvised. The entire room was a white cloud of powder. It was hard to breathe in there, so we stripped the beds, enlisted the airmen and wives from the Bible study to help, vacuumed, put things though the dryer so the lint catcher would filter out the powder, and nearly ruined the vacuum cleaner making the room safe for them to sleep. R slept though the whole incident. Needless to say, we stupidly asked “Who did this?” and S pointed to a small “puddle” on the carpet and said “R did that!” We all laughed hilariously about it for hours afterward. I think 2-3 year old boys are fascinated with baby powder. Thank you God, for my four girls.