Reguarding Tiger's Impending Motherhood....

My sister makes me laugh often so I thought I would share this quote from her email:

"I’m not sure if I should send condolences or congratulations on Tiger’s impending kittens. Either way, I demand pictures."

I am getting a kernel of an idea for scrapbook for Tiger and her babies. That could be quite fun. She is doing some funny things now, that she has not done before. For one thing, she is even more affectionate than she usually is. Today she was stretching out on her belly with her legs splayed out to the sides. She is also eating like a horse...albeit a small horse that weighs only 7 lbs but for her, she is eating a lot.

My kids are pretty excited about having baby cats around. We are going to check out some books at the library about taking care of kittens. My daughter is very protective of the little Momma and will chide her brothers about how to carry Tiger or what not to do with Tiger. It's really quite cute to see her doing this kind of mothering. And I think it is quite appropriate for her to act in this motherly way. It's good practice.

I discussed with Princess today that when she is 12, she can begin babysitting her brothers for longer periods of time and possibly even babysit other kids at church during Bible study. She is kind of excited about the idea. She got a chance to practice a little tonight when I had a short meeting to go to that was not very far away. So, I explained what it meant when Princess was in charge and what I was looking for.

The woman I was meeting with, who also has 4 children but she is further along in that a couple of her children are teenagers, had a great idea for an incentive. She said that she would pay her oldest daughter a small amount to babysit her siblings and then if the parents did not get any phone calls or reports about misbehavior (to which I interpret to mean...The house is still standing and there is food left in the fridge...) then they would also give the other kids $0.50 each. I think this is absolutely brilliant.

I have some time yet to prepare my daughter for this next step in growing up. And I have some time to get my head around the fact that I have a child who is almost old enough to babysit. Somehow, I think it will take me longer to get used to the idea than it will to get her prepared. I am going to look into a babysitting class for her and we will do some short practices like I did tonight.

(I was gone a little over an hour and the house was still standing but the boys had eaten a whole package of six applesauce cups and Peanut had made some sort of concoction with my tea mix and ketchup...ewww. No one was fighting or bleeding. I will count it a success. )