Finding a Decent Babysitter

It's so difficult to find a diligent babysitter. I'm not sure it's ever been easy. Some mothers have a wonderful partner who can share in those duties, but others must use every care when leaving their babies with the head of the family.

He might be more interested in eating than watching his precious offspring. The little one might wander off without big daddy even being overly concerned.

He might not even notice how quickly the little guy can move.

For the mother of twins, the problem is doubled. Even those super dads who can manage one baby will often bolt when faced with the responsibility of two at a time. Often twins can need more than twice the attention, because they tend to bounce off of each other.

Another problem arises because they often eat and sleep on their own individual schedules. Therefore, while one of these little beauties ran out of the gate and left the yard, without Daddy even noticing, the other calmly lay down for a little nap. Dad continued nibbling his way through the lower bushes in the yard nearby.

He stopped by to look at the one resting, then wandered off and out of the yard. I kept expecting him to come back. After all, the other baby had disappeared around the other corner of the house and I hadn't seen him in about five minutes. Daddy didn't seem concerned. I started looking for the Mama. This was a good story and all, but these babies were pretty new.

Waking up, the first thing the youngster did was look for his twin. Nap time had only lasted about five minutes, but when he stretched and walked to the fence, he found that not only was his twin gone, but Daddy was as well.

He ran along the fence rails, looking for Daddy or somebody—anybody besides me up on the deck watching with my camera clicking.

He didn't ask me for help. Maybe I looked too dumb. He asked others.

"Did you see where my Daddy went?" I'm sure he was asking.

"Nope. I just few in. He wasn't here when I got here. Sorry," said the Robin.

"Who, me? Nope. Those guys all look the same to me," said the bunny.

So he jumped the fence and ran in the direction his daddy the buck had taken. I hope he caught up with him, or found the herd. I knew better than to try to keep him, but felt kind of helpless. About ten minutes later, I heard a coughing sound and looked down. Guess who?

"Hi, Mama!" I yelled down. I took her photo, since I was still holding the camera. She stood there looking at me, and I pointed down the hill and said, "They went that way, but he lost one of your babies," and I pointed behind the house. She nodded her head (I swear she did, even though I know she didn't understand me) and in a few giant leaps and bounds had run out of the yard and down the hill on the same basic route the Daddy and one following twin had taken.

I know myself well enough to know I'll worry a bit until I see them again. (Who could make this stuff up? You left too soon, Stacey!)