Zia EM's Visit, Part II in a Requested Three-Part Series

Zia Em takes a momentary break from simultaneously feeding
two babies to snap a photo of this life-changing experience

I'll give it to her, she does deserve another blog after last night. During her vacation here in Israel, Zia Em took on the monumental task of babysitting two babies for hours upon hours while mommy and abba flitted off to a wedding in Jaffa - not around the corner and far enough away to make this a very serious endeavor.

Admittedly, we eased up on full-on baby trickery for Zia Em's first solo sitting expedition, but we did throw in a few challenges in order to keep things interesting.

One of our specialities is demanding to be fed at the same time. That is a challenge on several levels:

1. Food preparation. Lucas and I can't always eat the same food so good luck preparing two meals - at the appropriate temperature - to a cacophony of impatient screaming.
2. Two bowls. That requires keeping things distinct and separate plus keeping two bowls rather than one away from the roving hands of babies. Even an octopus would be challenged!
3. Two spoons. These also must be kept separate because of germs. Never mind that we probably already traded cheechungs (pacifiers) and stole swigs from each other's bottles countless times the same day.

All of this must be performed to the tune of moaning, shrieking or all-out crying: "Feed me! Feed me!" It can be quite stressful.

But Zia Em navigated the challenge with only a modicum of stress and eventually settled into a pattern relaxed enough to enable her to take some photos!

The desperate looks of hunger staring down Zia Em

If you don't act fast, we will!

Success: Happy babies and an empty bowl

All in all, it was a pleasant aunt-nephew bonding experience. And, I believe we successfully tricked Zia Em into thinking she can handle us and even offer to babysit again.

But then we will pull out all the stops. Wink, wink!

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