Kids from Sydney.

I recently babysat a 3-year-old boy and a 6-year old girl, absolute gems from Australia.

The children were engrossed in a movie when the doorbell rang. I went to the door and came back with a pizza that had been ordered for them earlier. The boy asked me who was at the door. I explained that a delivery man had brought us pizza for dinner.

“Well, that’s very kind of him, don’t you think?” the boy said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

* * *

We were talking about the kids’ birthdays. I found out that the boy would turn 4 in several months. His sister moaned.

“I don’t want him to get one more. Every time he gets one more he gets even cheekier!”

Girl from Holland.

I babysat a very sweet 5-year-old girl twice. The moment I arrived the second time, she whispered that she had something secret to show me. Judging by the tone of her voice, I knew it was something scandalous.

She pulled up her skirt and showed me her fancy new undies, complete with pink frills on the sides.

“Very cool,” I told her.

“I know,” she replied. “It’s like I’m in the circus or something!”

Day 58.

The class is studying orcas. The children were recently given a homework assignment – which, by the way, is incredibly exciting – to learn two facts about orcas. One child’s “fact” was that people need to keep the oceans clean for the whales. This prompted a conversation about what we could do to keep the oceans clean.

A girl immediately raised her hand. “No smoking!” she exclaimed.