Adventures in Babysitting

Last Saturday night, Koy and I went to my sister and brother-in-law's house to babysit my sweet nephew Phoenix so they could have a night out. We got over there at about 6:15; they probably left around 6:30; and Phoenix was ready for bed by 7:00. We played with him for a little while. He crawled around and climbed up on the ottoman and sofa and tried eating blocks, you know the usual 11 month old activities. My sister said he would start getting fussy when he was tired and we could change his diaper, put on his pj's, give him his bottle, and put him down in his crib for bed. She said this would be anywhere between 7:00 and 8:30. Sure enough, right around 7:00, he started getting fussy. I tried to calm him down and play with him some more to make sure he was good and tired before going to bed, but it didn't last long. So, we started the bedtime ritual. He was not happy when we were changing his diaper and his clothes and he let us know it. He screamed and cried like we were torturing him or something. Right when we got the last button snapped on his little pj's and I showed him the bottle, though, he calmed down. He took his bottle and I held him on my shoulder for a little while before putting him in his crib. He was so sweet laying on my shoulder that I didn't want to put him down. I did eventually, though, and he was just fine in his crib the rest of the night. We watched him on the video monitor, but he never made a peep. What a good baby and a good first experience with watching him by myself (with Koy's help of course). He will turn one in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait for his swim party! Here are a few pictures of the sweet boy when he was still full of energy.