I spent Saturday babysitting an almost two year old.

I hadn’t seen K. in a while (his parents up and moved to Surrey), so I was a bit nervous and excited to practice my poor parenting skills on the unsuspecting baby.

I decided we’d go to Ikea – has anyone ever tried shopping with a two year old?

First off, people are nicer when you’re with a little person; they smile at you more.

Is it just me or are children always trying to get away? So there I was, knee deep in duvet covers loudly explaining my every action while I’m looking away. I read somewhere that if you’re taking your eyes off a child you should keep talking to keep his/her attention. What a load of crap!

I lost the baby! It was only for a second but the dread would last a lifetime.

I imagined having to explain to his parents that I’d lost their beautiful boy at an Ikea; if he were mine, I wouldn’t have to explain to anyone – I’ll just pretend he never existed and get on with life.

After a second of frantic search I found the boy among the bathroom stuff playing with an oddly shaped (and possibly oddly named) shoehorn.

That was too much excitement for me, we went home to watch Treehouse – baby shows are terrifying and I used to think the Boohbahs were scary.

Technorati Tags: babysitting