I had a lot of running around and packing to do this morning to make sure we had everything we needed to have a fun day out at Fox Lake. (It was absolutely fabulous, by the way, though it’s not the topic of this post.)
Jade played independently for a while, and then she even entertained Halia for me for a short time. But then Halia got cranky and Jade asked me repeatedly where the toy phone from her toy kitchen was. She looked at me seriously and said, “I need to talk, Mama.”
So I tied Halia to my back with my Storchenwiege wrap (where she fell asleep a few minutes later) and I headed to my computer to call up my parents on Skype. As usual, they were delighted to get a chance to see Jade and chat with her. Once I got her set up, I was able to get back to packing up keto meals, extra clothes, life jackets (which I was very glad Jade was wearing when she tipped out of her inflatable mini-boat), blankets, playpen, diapers… well, you get the picture.
I was able to pull everything together and get it packed into the van in about 40 minutes. Ah, the power of grandparents! Ah, the power of the Internet!
Of course, the technique does have a slight drawback. After coming back into the house from a quick shed run (for the life jackets) I noticed that the chattering voices had stopped. I stepped into the office and realized that my dad had been abandoned at his post. Then I heard Jade’s voice, coming from the basement: “Mama? Mama? Go mummy?”
(Oops! I guess I left the baby gate open. Good thing it’s now more for Halia’s benefit than Jade’s.)
This is not the first time I’ve used my far-away family to entertain Jade. Actually, it was my sister who led the maiden voyage of our virtual babysitting adventures. We were on a Skype chat together and I suddenly remembered something I urgently had to do. When I peeked in later, she and Jade were getting on so famously that I decided not to interrupt. And so and new babysitting medium was born.
The way I see it, it’s win-win-win. Jade gets to develop her relationships with our family, I get stuff done, and it’s way more interactive than the boob tube.
Have I mentioned that I love the Internet?
Well, a virtual hug and a fly-kiss ain’t quite the same as the real thing, but compared to the intercontinental communications media we had at our disposal back in the 70′s or 80′s humankind sure has made great strides forward.
Virtual childcare! That’s brilliant and very 21st century. Kind of reminds me of the Jetson’s… LOL.
Gotta love technology Fawn! Sorry I missed you in Whitehorse this summer. Hopefully we can meet up in October.