Mom had tickets for an event last night, so we had Erica over to babysit. While we were getting that set up, Jacob’s parents decided that they were going out for an evening as well and asked Erica if she could look after their three children in addition. Erica, being far too nice and naive, agreed to do this. Unfortunately, she was unaware of the “Jacorobwin” effect, where Jacob and Corwin “spin up” when they get together. Corwin is somewhat bouncy (as in off walls) naturally, but he and Jacob go to a whole new level when they are together. The two of them unite to become the Jacorobwin entity, a single unsuppressable explosion of boyish enthusiasm.
The stage is set. Erica arrives at our house, picks up Corwin and heads over to Jacob’s house. We arrive a few minutes later with Charles. Jacorobwin are already highly energized although still moving slow enough that we can perceive them as distinct objects and not just blurs, Jesse and Jared are wandering underfoot, Jacob’s parents are trying to achieve escape velocity, so we drop off Charles who immediately begins screaming because Mom and Dad are leaving. Mom lets Erica know that Charles did some major vomitting the previous night and had diarhea during the day, but he hadn’t pooped in a couple of hours so maybe the worst was over. One look at Erica’s brave but resigned face and I can see that she won’t be reproducing anytime soon.
But Mom and I have a nice evening and everyone survives with no permanent (physical) injuries. When we get back Charles is asleep and the Jacorobwin tempest has mostly blown over (they’re so spent that they are actually walking). We leave Erica with the three J’s, hoping that the worst is over because we’d like to have her baby-sit again. Speaking with Jacob’s mom this morning, I’m told that Erica got the J’s to bed shortly after Corwin and Charles left but she still bolted out the door as soon as Jacob’s parents were home. But we think she’ll be back and as they say, any evening where the baby-sitter will come back is a good one.