I've been practicing.

On Monday, I spent the day (7:30am-3:30pm) taking care of a 2 year old little girl, Stazia. The opportunity came up and I thought I could use a little practice. The circumstances were somewhat similar to what I'll be facing in China. This was a new little person I had only met once for less than an hour at my house. Other than the small detail that her mother had written down Stazia's schedule for me, I really didn't know anything about her. Rumor had it that she was easy... whatever that means. Well if Melanie is anything like Stazia, she'll be EASY. This little girl was always happy, ate like a champ, and had "light" diaper changes - if you know what I mean. She hung out in her pack-n-play portable crib for almost an hour singing songs and talking to her stuffed animals to put herself to sleep - for a two hour nap! I even took my jogging stroller for a practice run (well ok, we just walked). "Mary had a little lamb" was a big hit on the piano ... and of course we sang along. We also read lots of books and played with blocks. The day actually went by fairly quickly. Mission accomplished ... so when's it gonna be my turn to play mommy?