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KANSAS — Never underestimate the value of a good baby sitter.
Or in this case, doll sitter.
Nine-year-old Joselyn McCain takes her beloved doll, Abbie, everywhere she goes. But just like every good mother, Joselyn decided she needed some time away from her baby. So she turned to her trucker dad, Trent McCain, for some baby-sitting help.
Appealing to her dad’s soft side, Joselyn assured him that Abbie had one wish: To go trucking with her “grandpa,” McCain wrote on his Facebook page.
“Well, being the good “Grandpa” I agreed to take her,” McCain wrote.
Abbie’s grandpa decided it was his duty to show her a good time, and what better way to prove your baby-sitting skills than to take photos?
“We decided to have a little fun and post pictures of our travels,” McCain wrote. “I didn’t want Joselyn thinking I threw Abbie in the sleeper and forgot about her.”
In one photo, McCain proved his attention to safety by buckling Abbie into her seat in his truck. Another photo shows Abbie enjoying some Coke and a Slim Jim — though Joselyn didn’t exactly approve of the snack choice.
“I informed her that Abbie ate what I ate and didn’t complain,” McCain wrote. “Hopefully she took note of this.”
It wasn’t all fun and games for Abbie — grandpa put her to work loading corn and wheat from the family farm into the truck. Abbie even got some bonus time with her “great-grandpa,” McCain’s father.
All the while, Joselyn monitored Abbie’s adventures and sent instructions through Facebook, according to McCain.
Joselyn wasn’t the only one following Abbie and “grandpa’s” outing. McCain’s Facebook album has over 210,000 reactions, 90,000 shares and 24,000 comments.
“We really had no intention of this getting past our neighborhood,” McCain told BuzzFeed News. “We didn’t do it for publicity, we did it because I love my daughter … and she asked me to.”
McCain told BuzzFeed that Jocelyn has read some of the comments her story has generated, and she’s been blown away by Abbie’s newfound fame. The family has shared a few more Abbie/Grandpa adventures since the initial baby-sitting date, but McCain’s wife, Jody, says their baby-sitting days may be coming to an end — at least for the time being.
“I’m afraid Abbie’s adventures are becoming a bit overwhelming,” she told BuzzFeed. “She may just stay out of the public eye for a while.”
