My Saturday Night

*Note* Charge will from here on out be called "Goober" and Charge's cousin-(my boss's nephew) with be called "Smiley."

As a college student, I don't fit the stereotypes. I don't fit the nerdy stereotype of studying all the time, always having things done way ahead of time, always setting the curve. Nor do I fit the partying stereotype of partying every weekend, sleeping in late, and rushing to get everything done. I'm somewhere between the 2. I rush to get assignments turned in on time, but it's not because I party. I rush because I procrastinate. But all of my stuff is always turned in on time and I set the curve in my classes more often than not. Which brings me to my Saturday night.

My Saturday night involved 5 drunk parents a 3 kids. Said parents were all going out for a night on the town. 3 kids were Goober-6, Smiley-3.5 months, and Other Kid-18 months. I get there and parents are all drinking. Kids are all up, at 9:30pm. Yay for fun times. Other Kid was laid down by his mom before they left, Goober was laying on the couch watching a movie, and Smiley was sitting on his mom's lap.

Smiley's mom started this conversation with me about psycho dog. "Check this out Jen." I watch as she yells at the dog. "See how she bows down to me?" I nod. "That's how you deal with her, she doesn't do that to you. You can't be all happy with her cause then she doesn't bow down to you." I nod again, and stop listening. This conversation came out of nowhere, I had just walked in and the dog greeted me in her usual psycho dog way. I just shrugged it off, petted her, and then pushed her out of the way so I could get through the doorway. I usually don't have a huge problem with psycho dog. She gets really excited for about 5 minutes after I get there and then she settles down and lays at my feet, or goes and finds a toy, or brings me her beloved neon green ball. I've just come to accept that she's gonna be psycho for the first few minutes. I let it pass and then all is good.

Commotion is abundant after this conversation. Goober climbs up in my lap, Other Kid is screaming upstairs, Smiley is spitting up, parents are all talking at once, but not to me of course. Heaven forbid anyone talk to the babysitter about the kids she's gonna be watching. My boss fixed that with "Just let them do whatever." Yeah, that helped. So glad you told me that, I might've like--forced them to scrub the floors or something without that piece of advice. I ask, 3 times, when Smiley last ate. Smiley's mom just keeps talking to me about the dog and how incompitent I am at dealing with her. Okay, whatever. Other Kid's mom actually gives me some useful info. How to get him back down if he wakes up.

Parents all leave. Other Kid is screaming upstairs, Smiley is spitting up, and Goober is wanting my full attention. Goober says something that gets my attention: "Smiley has a bad cold and he hasn't slept since lunch time." Oh, great. Thankfully Goober is there to tell me the info that apparently none of the other parents thought was important enough to tell me. She also tells me that there's 3 bottles in the fridge for Smiley and 2 sippy cups of juice for Other Kid. At this point I'm somewhere between thankful and frusrated. Thankful that Goober is sharing this information with me. Frustrated that a 6 year old is having to tell me this.

The rest of the night went on...chaotic...but I made it through. I got Other Kid up for a little bit because he was having a freak out, Smiley was T-I-R-E-D but wouldn't sleep, and Goober laid on the couch. After 30 minutes I took Other Kid back upstairs to lay him down with the promise to Goober that I would watch the movie with her when I got back downstairs. Up to that point, I really hadn't had a chance to spend any time with her due to the 2 under 2 thing. So I come back downstairs and she's passed out on the couch. So much for quality time. Smiley was lying on his blanket, sucking on his hand and psycho dog was, well...I wasn't really sure.

I took Goober upstairs and laid her down. Heated up a bottle for Smiley, which he didn't want, walked with him for an hour before he finally crashed at 11:30pm. 11 hours and 30 minutes since he last slept. Cripes, how does he do it???? Then it was off to find the dog. Apparently the 5 drunk parents had let her out in the yard when she left. Usually not a problem, except that she hopped the fence. Great. So there I was, at midnight, calling to a dog that wasn't even mine, not being able to leave the yard because of hte kids inside, and probably pissing off the neighbors. She came back, and was promptly yelled at and put in her kennel. Yeah, I have no idea how to handle a dog. *rolls eyes*

Smiley woke up at 1 for another bottle, sucked down 7 oz. and fell back asleep. Drunk parents came home at 3. Then I got to be a chauffer. I made it home by 3:30 for 2 reasons. 1: None of the parents wanted to know how the night went and 2: Nobody was talking to me. So, I got home at 3:30 after dropping Smiley and his mom off at their house.

So, that was my Saturday night. Not quite what one would expect for a college student. But it is my life, and I wouldn't trade my night with 3 beautiful-(albeit cranky) children for the world. :)