New babysitter

Tonight we're having another first - the first time we've left Jake with a babysitter that wasn't a Grandmother. My sister has a step-daughter (14yo), and apparently she needs to "earn" the right to attend a party later this weekend. So my sister offered up some free babysitting.

I think it will be fine. We're going out to dinner with my sister and her husband, and we made reservations for a place that's only about 3 miles from the house. The babysitter has a younger sister who's only a couple of months younger than Nicole, so I don't doubt her abilities to manage Nicole. And Jake, by himself, probably not a problem. But if she can manage both of them together, she will definitely have accomplished something. Not that it's impossible - but even the grandmas have trouble managing the bedtime routine.

The way I figured we'd solve that problem though - was just to tell the sitter to make Jake the priority - do whatever she needed to do to get him situated for the night, and if Nicole wound up staying up well past her usual bedtime as a result, then we'll deal.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to tonight, but I'm nervous at the same time. Nicole never stayed with a sitter who wasn't family until she was three. And now, not only am I leaving one that's much younger, but I'm leaving two at the same time. I'm sure we'll get through it. And hey - if it works out well, then maybe we'll be able to do this more often.