It Takes a Village

Once again we owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to all the people who help us out All The Time.

When Listen to Your Mother announced auditions for their New York show, I knew I wanted in. I got an appointment, set up babysitting with Coach, and concentrated on figuring out what to write.

Except then Coach’s work hours changed and I was stuck without supervision for the kiddies while I traipsed into the city. As a former teacher, I have an army of babysitters… but they are not available until after school, and I needed to leave the house by 12:30.

I went down the list of friends and relatives who MIGHT be available mid-day on a school day and came up empty. At one point, the parent of a former student offered to watch them, but she had a previous obligation at 3:30 and i couldn’t be sure id be back in time. By Monday night, I was afraid I’d have to cancel. I secretly hoped it would rain and Coach would not have to go and work. No luck – Tuesday morning was clear and cold (Coach works at a ski mountain hill, so those are pretty much ideal conditions).

But! An early morning phone call revealed that he didn’t need to report until 3:00, which would mean he could be at my house until 2:30. Initiate frantic texting and Facebook posting to try to auction off Cole for the 2:30-4 time slot. (I had already decided to take Lulu with me.) Michele responded that she could watch him, but at her house since that’s where Sarah would be napping.

That would be brilliant – Cole LOVES playing with Max – but if Coach was coming from further south in the county, he’d have to leave at 2. Would that be okay? Luckily Michele confirmed she’d be available for the extra half hour, and a plan was set.

But! Carseats! I scrambled to get the kids out of the house (of *course,* they were not in cooperating moods) and texted Adam I was on my way to steal a car seat out of his car in the school parking lot… Since I was taking Lulu, Coach and I couldn’t just switch cars, and I didn’t want to take Cole’s car seat out of my car for 2 reasons: 1) It would necessitate taking out Lulu’s seat to get to his, and then installing his in Coach’s car and Lulu’s back in mine, and 2) then I would have to do that whole process in reverse to get him home. If we stole the carseat from Adam’s car, I could just put it in Coach’s car, leave mine alone, and pick up Cole hassle free. Cole rides in Adam’s car less frequently – we’ll get the seat back from Coach this weekend.

We got to school, cleared security, and waited for Adam to pause the class he was mid-teaching so he could aim his remote out the window and unlock the car.

Smooth sailing from there on: stole the carseat, dropped Cole & car seat with Coach, made it to my audition with time to spare, and picked Cole up from Michele’s where he was thrilled to have spent the afternoon. A few minor hiccups aside (Lulu was a bit cranky while I was doing my reading, so I was simultaneously feeding her snacks while trying to be funny and memorable – I’m pretty sure the fussy child hanging off my front like a kangaroo joey nailed the memorable part… Cole had an EPIC screaming and kicking tantrum at the suggestion that it was time to go home. He wanted to sleep over; when I argued that he couldn’t, Max helpfully piped I that he could share his bed.), it all went without a hitch, and both kids wee supervised at all times without having to resort to Henry as a babysitter.

You know what would be great? If I got a spot on the show after all that effort! Cross your fingers for me?