As I have mentioned, my work is surprisingly busy. I have been working on three large actions and the timing has put them all at critical phases at the same time. It has been tiring and difficult. The kids are really good about understanding we have to work, but sometimes Luke is just needy. He is only 6 and doesn't like to be by himself. Often, Thomas or I can take a break to give him some attention. But, for the next two weeks Thomas is in an online class and I am swamped. We contemplated sending him to the YMCA, but Florida is the new COVID hotspot and with the numbers rising, it didn't seem like a good idea. So, we decided to pay our older kids to babysit.
Normally, I want my kids to help because they should and it is part of being a contributing family member. But, in this case, we wanted them to take the job seriously. And, we were going to ask more than just entertaining him for a few minutes. We divided each day into two 3-hour shifts. During their shift they are responsible for Luke. They have all read the Babysitter's Club and Kara is looking forward to the day when she can be a neighborhood babysitter, so she was thrilled with the offer. Jack and Anna weren't as excited, but didn't want to lose out on the money. Over the two weeks, they can each earn $100! $300 is actually what we would pay to send him to camp, so we aren't saving anything. But, I am hoping they can learn some responsibility. We are on day 3 and so far it is working out well. Kara was the most prepared, she had a plan for activities and was able to keep him happily entertained. Anna had a rough first day. She had planned on swimming with Luke, then he decided he wasn't interested. He was cranky and she was frustrated--not a good combination. We were ready to fire her, but Luke felt bad for being difficult and apologized and we decided she could have another chance. Her second shift went much better. Jack has also done a good job.
It is actually really nice for all of us. Luke is completely entertained. For example, today was Anna in the morning. They played pick-up sticks, she painted his nails and they programed Blocky (a kid's coding robot). Thomas and I took a break for lunch and then Jack took over. They read books, played several rounds of memory and talked about video games. Luke still comes in to the office to chat with me on occassion, but it is nothing like before we had the arrangement. And, someone is usually right behind him to shoo him into another activity. He looks forward to his time with his siblings and hasn't complained about being bored once. I am hoping the older kids are learning something about patience and responsibility. Each shift earns them around $15, which is a lot of money at their age (at least in my opinion). They are thinking about how to wisely spend their earnings. So, perhaps there are also lessons to be learned about budgeting or the value of money. We haven't been consistent with allowances, so this is nice for them.
In other news, we got a new toilet for one of the upstairs bathrooms. The toilet we had wouldn't stop running. Thomas would fix it and it would work better for a day or two and then start running again. We had been holding off on replacing it because I want to redo the bathrooms. But, we finally couldn't take it anymore, so we got a new one. We had someone come to install it and I gave him a list of all the home projects I am interested in. We won't be able to do them all, but hopefully we can get some of them (he is doing estimates). We want to replace the front door, redo the bathrooms, maybe the flooring in the entryway, install security cameras/lights outside, and fix a few other things. However, we also want to redo the pool area soon.
Our house isn't really a fixer-upper, but nothing had been updated or changed since it was built in 2003. Obviously, that isn't an old house, but it's not new either. And, it is nice to make it a bit more our own. We did a lot of work in our first house, way back before the kids were born, but we haven't taken on any significant home projects in any of our houses since. We paint and Thomas changes out fans and light fixtures, but nothing like a bathroom remodel. When we did flooring in our first house, we did it ourselves. We even made a fancy tile pattern the entryway. But, we don't have the time or inclination to take all of this on ourselves. I just want someone to come, measure, send me a proposed design and do it. We will see how it goes!
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