"Do they eat jellybeans?"

Back in my 'tween days when most girls my age were hyped on the Sweet Valley Twins series, I on the other hand, for some unbeknownst reason, preferred The Baby-sitters Club. Perhaps it's the lack of 'popular-clique' vs. 'the nerds' social strata thing (those things never seem to get old, although we don't have them here either), and more of a 'daily adventure in a friendly neighbourhood' kind of thing.

Btw, I am still collecting the books now...they're very difficult to find, usually only in secondhand-bookstores.

The first book in the series. Ah, I miss those good old days...

Of course the book has some rather illogical stuff like how can a bunch of 13-year-olds never grow up after BSC#10 and they just seem to have a myriad of adventures over the summer and winter over and over again. That's the perks of being a fictional character I guess.

Anyway, in reality, I have baby-sat before...in a way. You know, the looking after younger cousins kind of stuff. And I DON'T get paid. And let's not forget my short stint working in a childcare (I was paid, but that was slightly more of a nightmare at times).

What inspired me to write this entry was that I met two adorable little girls just now when I was out running (more like after running) who live in the house opposite. They like the puppies but as they are Muslims, they can't touch. But they still wanted to do something, so they were practically running in and out of their house with food to feed the pups, and toys (oh my).

Conversation snippets with the 8-year-old:

"Do the puppies have chew toys? Why do they like to chew so much? Can we (meaning her younger sister and her) give them our toys?" She had a plastic toy banana in her hand.

"Wouldn't your mom mind? Are you sure you want to just throw your toys away?"

"It's okay. We don't play with it anymore, it's going into storage anyway."

and :

"What do they like to eat? Sometimes we buy food, but we don't eat them. Do they eat cereal? Do they eat jellybeans?"

"Well...they eat biscuits. But nothing chocolate okay?"

They brought Danish butter cookies out to feed the dogs. (feed: as in throw pieces on the road and the dogs eat them.)

and the one that takes the cake:

"I'll try to feed them again tomorrow...before my mom comes home!"

Oops.

I don't mind baby-sitting kids like that though. They'll be fun.