Unexpected Babysitting

A woman came over one morning to visit. Yari was just passing by my house and decided to stop up and say hi. She had her 3 year old daughter Josi, 2 year old grandson Jonatan, and 2 month old son Mikol with her. We chatted for a few minutes, she handed me Mikol to hold for a second, and we joked about how most babies start screaming the second they see the pale white gringa but Mikol just giggled.

 

Another woman, Lunia, passed by the house, said something to Yari, and they had a short conversation in Embera, I don't know what about. When I looked up, Yari was leqving wit Lunia headed off somewhere to do something. And I suddenly had 3 very, very young chikdren in my house. I have kids in my house all the time. But 6 year olds and 9 year olds and 13 year olds are very, very different than 2 month olds and toddlers. We were doing alright for almost an hour. Josi and Jonatan were playing with my stuffed monkeys and Mikol was content to swing in the hammock with me.

 

Then my cat, Jaguar, came back. She hopped up into the house and startled the two toddlers who started whimpering. I tried to call Jaguar over and show them that she is a nice kitty when she dove at the tail hanging off the monkey in Josi's hands. Both toddlers started screaming like their lives were ending. Mikol quickly joined in.

 

I was trying to distract the toddlers, toss my cat outside, (she really, really, wanted to play) and hold on to a screaming, squirming infant at the same time when their older sister walked by. Yorleni threw the cat outside, took Mikol from me, scolded the toddlers, and helped them each down my stairs, then walked the sniffling trio home.

 

Yorleni is 8 years old.