And There's Another One!

A Letter About An Abacus

Dear Furaha,

I’ve heard from your carer Optimus Prime that there are five colours on an abacus, all representing your two charges and three of your dearest friends - Furaha, Orko, Josh, Laura and Berto. The yellow beads represent Furaha and her sweetness, kindness and mischief. The red beads represent Orko’s brotherly nature towards his little furry sister. The green beads? You know them, when there’s green, Josh is around - he’s very kind and caring towards Furaha, and makes a good babysitter. The purple beads represent Laura and her kindness and softness towards Orko, and Furaha if she has time. And finally, the blue beads represent Berto, and how he loves to play board games and share Choco Nutties together with Orko, even when they’re fighting over the last one in the supermarket.

Let me tell you something: each bead represents a lovely, gentle story in their lives, whether Josh and Laura are babysitting Furaha and Orko or your two little ones are going on adventures together. Whatever keeps the beads apart from each other keeps you together no matter what. Because these beads are the group of friends that come together and make each other feel happy with what they have.

Love,

Sybil
XXXOOO

Too Many Babies

One day, Tin Tin had just finished cleaning all around Tracy Island. She had cleaned the dishes, done the hoovering and cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom, and she was absolutely tired out. She went to the sofa to have herself a little rest, her hands and arms aching from so much hard work.

Then, she heard a little cooing noise beside her. It was my baby self, snuggled on the sofa, chewing a giraffe-shaped teething toy. Instead of panicking about it, Tin Tin just giggled. “Oh S, how did you get there?” she smiled as she tickled my back.

Then, she heard a little squeal coming from the corner of the living room. Has a new baby been born? She raced over to the side of the living room to see a soft plush pink, yellow and blue nest, and in it were babies Bluey, Judo and Snickers. Tin Tin was adored by this sight. “Aaaawww,” she sighed, and cuddled them one by one, giving them each soft, gentle kisses.

And then, another baby strolled past, crawling merrily along - it was Judo! “Oh Judo! It’s so nice to see you crawling.” smiled Tin Tin, and she picked her little friend up and swirled her around like she was a whirlwind.

“I’m glad you found all these babies,” said a calm voice from the other side of the lounge. It was Jeff Tracy. “Mr Tracy! Oh, I didn’t see you there. Why are all these babies here?” asked Tin Tin. “Well, Chilli and her mum friends have gone out for coffee, and it’s your duty to look after them while they’re away.” “I will,” said Tin Tin, “You can count on me.”

As soon as Jeff Tracy left the room, Tin Tin decided to take us babies out onto the beach. It was a warm Summer’s day - just perfect for building sandcastles and splashing in the ocean. Tin Tin built a sand arch with all her sand sculpture skills so we could crawl right underneath - she even challenged us to a race, to see who can go under the arch first. Luckily, Judo won - as always.

Snickers was spending time with Virgil, for he tended to calm down and stop crying when he was around the calmest and most mature of all the brothers. Virgil giggled whenever Snickers sucked on his ears, and he even tickled his tummy.

Oh, we had so much fun on the beach. When Tin Tin played with Judo in the sea, she had to change her nappy shortly afterwards because it was wet and soggy. And after that, we all buried Alan up to his neck in the sand - except Snickers, who spent a lot of time sleeping on Virgil’s bare chest.

Then everyone went back inside for dinner. It was a bit hectic - while Snickers and I were calm because Tin Tin and Virgil fed us with ease, Coco and Bluey had to be fed by Grandma and Kyrano, while Judo cried loudly because she didn’t like mushy peas. So, Grandma gave her a cupcake instead - a nice, strawberry cupcake with a cherry on top.

Shortly afterward, Tin Tin helped change our nappies. It was good, because they were natural nappies, and they could be washed and used again. The mums had remembered to pack plenty of natural nappies for the babysitting session on Tracy Island, and Virgil was proud to help with Snickers too - his nappy was so round it fitted his entire body!

By this point in time, we babies were all feeling very tired, so Tin Tin took all of us into her room, while Virgil took Snickers into his room. In Tin Tin’s room, we babies were not at all sleepy - we were crawling along the bed, squealing with joy, but Tin Tin knew what to do - she took all of us in her arms and kissed each and every one of us. Then, she sang us a beautiful Malaysian lullaby that we didn’t understand yet, but we felt sleepy just hearing her softly toned voice.

Then she settled each one of us beside her - Bluey and me on the left, Coco and Judo on the right - and proceeded to read us a nice bedtime story out of one of her board books she was saving for when we came to visit Tracy Island.

In Virgil’s room, Virgil had calmly settled Snickers beside him in his bed and gave him a nice, snuggly kiss. He then whispered some reassuring words into his ears, nose kissed him and told him: “We’ll always be friends forever, won’t we?” Snickers just gave a little mumble of agreement, then snuggled beside him as they both fell asleep.

When the mums returned from their coffee trip, they were awed to see their babies asleep with Tin Tin and Virgil. They cared for us all together. Snickers’ mum on the other hand saw Snickers snuggled beside Virgil and thought it was the most adorable sight she had ever seen in her life.

But no one thought of it as adorable more as Lady Penelope, my mummy, who picked me up and cradled me in a soft, lullaby-like cuddle. And then, she whispered some nice, soft words into Tin Tin’s ear:

“Thank you, darling.”

Mission: Babysitting

Scott, Virgil and Gordon may be horrible towards me, but their one true mission isn't something high stakes or anything, it's something where they experienced love from the moment they met their best friends: babysitting. Divided into three gentle segments, we see Scott babysitting his best friend baby Indy, Virgil having a calm way of looking after baby Snickers and Gordon sharing his love of water and the ocean with baby Chloe.

Sure As The Rain Falls

Set on a day after I got bullied by Scott, Virgil and Gordon, I sit in the silent lounge on a rainy Sunday afternoon and snuggle in between Alan and Tin Tin in the calmness of the room. A conversation occurs where I ask if despite his brothers' teasing and bullying, Alan still loves me. I ask the same to Tin Tin, and some heartwarming bonding moments between the two babysitters and their charge occur.

Baby Hiccups

• Baby years
• Babysitting
• Tracy Island
• Dinner
• Helping Grandma Tracy
• Feeding me
• Preparing my milk
• Feeding gently
• Crying
• Thump on back to bring up wind
• Hiccups
• Alan - worried
• Scott - tie me up
• Virgil - drown me in a well
• Gordon - strangle my throat
• Jeff Tracy
• Alan will know what to do
• Thump on my back
• "Poor little girl has the hiccups."
• Loud burp
• Scott, Virgil, Gordon - sent to their room
• Brains and Tin Tin
• Taking turns cuddling me
• Bedtime
• Cuddling near Alan's pyjamas

Babysitting

My support worker was babysitting me when M was away.

My dog Mylo has already stolen a pink iPad, and things are getting more chaotic by the minute with a hunt for lost dish towels and Mylo mercilessly stealing my popcorn notebook. But that's okay, I now have my Harry Potter notebook I got from The Works. Mylo won't steal that.