On our cruise, I tried to keep Eli to his regular routine. I know if Eli gets enough sleep and eats well that he is a true angel but if he does not get enough sleep and has too much sugar, the little devil side of him comes out.
Eli usually has a two hour nap during the day and then sleeps from 7:30pm – 6:45am at night. We were not able to give him a nap every day because of different activities going on so I was insistent that he needed to go to bed ON TIME!
Lowell and I were on vacation and we did not want to sit in our room from 7:30pm for the rest of the night so I hired a babysitter from the cruise line to watch Eli as he slept. The two nights that we hired a babysitter, I had the sitter come to the room after Eli had fallen asleep.
The first night of having a sitter a nice woman from China arrives. Unfortunately, Eli was not quite asleep when she arrived. She asked if she should feed him, give him a drink etc. I said no- just let him fall asleep and that he should be out soon. I then told her that once he has been out for 15 minutes, she can turn on the TV, use the book light I brought to read etc. She said thank you but she will just sit there as Eli slept. I again told her that he would not wake up once he has been out for a little while and please make herself comfortable and watch tv or read etc.
Lowell and I come back three hours later and Eli is asleep and the babysitter is sitting on the floor in the dark.
Now, I should describe the room to you. If you have been on a cruise before, you can imagine, the room is NOT big. In our room, you walk in and there is a small closet (picture a small pantry closet) on one side and the bathroom on the other side. There is a small desk next to the closet and then the pack n play and bed. There is NO room to walk. I will post a picture once they are uploaded.
So, we hired a babysitter the next night. This time I was able to meet her beforehand. She was helping us at the guest relations desk and told us she would be our sitter for the night. Again I encouraged her to bring a book, she could watch tv etc. I told her Eli would be sleeping the same time. She said thank you but she will just sit in the dark while he sleeps. And she did.
The babysitter gets paid $12 an hour so I think that is pretty decent for sitting in the dark while my son sleeps!
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1 comment:
Ali, I hate to tell you this, on some lines, they're not allowed to do anything but sit there.
Seriously! The rules are very strict since passengers can find fault with so much from watching the tv (some of the movies may have nudity or adult scenes and parents may object to their sleeping child being exposed to it) or the light for reading (sleeping child should be in complete darkness, yada yada yada) and while you and Lowell may find this odd, the cruise lines do it so you won't complain. Bottom line, you had a good time. Yay!
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