I Am So Worn Out

This evening I agreed to watch Isaac's friend K and her younger sister, A, while their mom went to her drug treatment program.  According to K, her mom used to take drugs but doesn't anymore.  She goes to some sort of treatment program once a week and usually K and A go with her.  There is some sort of group there that the kids participate in and K said it's "kind of helpful" but "really boring."  They didn't want to go tonight and I said they could stay with me and Isaac, as long as they could entertain themselves for a while because I had some work to do.

Well, they did entertain themselves some.  They are really good kids, but they are still kids.  They are messy and noisy and all that stuff.  There are now granola bar crumbs all over my couch. 

Isaac is completely worn out.  He is passed out on the floor right now, and a few minutes ago Cayenne walked right past him, and he didn't move a muscle.  Normally, he is aware if she goes anywhere in the apartment and usually trots after her, which upsets her greatly.  Cayenne hid from the girls while they were here; they were too noisy for her.  They had a lot of fun playing with Isaac and putting him through is paces.  They had him sit, lie down, stay, turn on the light, open the fridge, etc. about a million times each.

I am completely worn out, too.  They were really well-behaved.  I say they were noisy, but compared to many kids, they weren't that loud.  I was on the phone for a while when they were here and they did a very good job of keeping it down while I was on the phone.  They drew me some pictures and had markers and papers strewn all over the living room, but they picked their things up when I asked them to before they left.  I gave them something to drink and showed them where to put their glasses so Isaac wouldn't knock them over, and they were careful to put them where I said.

As good as they were, I am worn out.  I walked them home, and on my way back home, Isaac saw a cat and took off after it.  Normally when he chases after something, he does not go far at all and he comes right back.  This time, he did not come right back.  I started after him but he is so fast and I can't run at all because of my back.  He ran around a house and was out of sight and when I got around the house, he was no where to be seen.  I called him and he didn't come right back and I started to panic.  I didn't know what I was going to do if I couldn't find him.  I was trying to think of who I could call to help me and I didn't know anyone to call.  I didn't have my anxiety medication; it was back in my apartment and I didn't want to go home to get it because I thought I needed to keep looking for Isaac.

Well, about five minutes later, Isaac came trotting back to me, looking quite pleased with himself.  He wasn't gone that long and while I don't like him running around loose, the reality is just about everyone in my neighborhood knows Isaac, he has on a collar with an identification tag, and he has a microchip.  If Isaac got lost, if I couldn't find him, chances are very good someone would find him and return him.  Really, as friendly as Isaac is, he would not need someone to find him; he would find a person and run up to them to say hello and ask for a belly rub.  My panic was excessive.

I feel like my nerves were just frazzled, though, from having the two kids here for three hours.  Isn't that pitiful?  Two well-behaved kids for three hours is too much for me.  But I think it is too much.  I feel like now I need a whole day to rest and recover from it, plus I need a whole day to clean my house because, well, things are sticky now.