Nurse/Psychiatrist/Housekeeper Emmy

I've been feeling really lucky because this past week has been really great with the girls. They've been acting so well and I feel like we're really bonding. I'm seeing traits in them that I know will be a lasting part of themselves as they grow up and am noticing the differences between the two of them. Those kind of things are really special to get to observe.

The mom texted me this morning to inform me that because the weather is nicer W can go to ballet. I wasn't aware that she wasn't going to go if the weather wasn't nice, so I'm glad she told me that! Is it weird that I got excited about this because I wanted to see B, W's friend's personal driver? R, the personal assistant that I bonded with at ballet last week, came to pick up her friend and I was hoping he would invite us over to their house for a playdate again but he didn't. Poo.

Now I have this hour and a half to kill with W before going to ballet. I don't know the Upper East Side very well except for the area where I go to the gym, so we went to Barnes & Noble which is right across the street from where I go to the gym. I'm glad we went there because it was really chill and fun. We did have an awkward/funny/scary moment descending into the store, however. She was holding my hand to go down on the escalator, and I stepped on and she let go of my hand! So I started going down and there she was standing at the top of the escalator by herself. I tried coming back up but couldn't get back to the top, so I ran down the escalator all the while telling her to stay there and step back. Then I ran up the up escalator to meet her. I felt like such a bad nanny but she let go of my hand! I told her this time to hold onto my hand really tight and to hold onto the railing. We counted to 3 and she jumped on tentatively. Phew!

We had to go down another escalator to get to the cafe and we did the same thing and she was much better. I told her if I was holding her hand she wasn't going to go anywhere. Children really do need to instill a lot of trust in adults when they tell them it will be OK if they do what they say. For her snack W got an Izze drink and a large chocolate cookie that she ate entirely! Because NY posts the calories in everything, I knew that that cookie was 480 calories, and she ate the entire thing!! She is a growing girl so I guess those calories don't effect her like they would me. I'm hoping...

We sat at a table and I ate my naked pita chips while she nibbled away at her giant cookie. This cookie was sort of a bribe to get her to go to ballet. She didn't want to go to ballet so I thought if she had a cookie beforehand she would be more willing to go. I didn't tell her this though...I let it happen subconsciously...and it worked! Out of nowhere, she asked if I had a husband! I laughed out loud. I said, "W, how old am I?" She said, "23". I said, "yeah, that's pretty young to get married, don't you think??". She told me her friend got married when she was 3 and that she wore the diamond ring on her finger to prove it. I was waiting for the "I'm just joking" to come but it never did. Ohhh boy. I told her that people normally have boyfriends before they get married. She said her mom just got married and I said, "your dad was probably her boyfriend before he was her husband" and she said "eewwww! I have to tell my sister!!" It was the funniest exchange we've ever had. Then I heard a little girl sitting at a table behind us ask her nanny if she was married and her nanny had the same reaction I did.

I let W walk around the children's book section for a few minutes but I told her we weren't getting any new books today and she whined about it for a minute but then let it go. Good...I'm teaching her. She needed to go to the bathroom so we went and she insisted on going into the stall herself which was fine because she always goes to the bathroom by herself. She walked in and came out a few seconds later saying, "Emma, what do I do?" I told her it was the same thing she does when she goes at home. I guess the stall threw her off? Haha.

I think I mentioned this in my last entry, but I'm really noticing how W is needing me more. She is still pretty stubborn and likes doing things on her own, but she's constantly saying, "Emmy! Emmy!" and wants me to come see something. The biggest difference I've noticed between the girls is that M is very touchy-feely and shows affection physically and verbally. W does not show affection. She doesn't like physical contact and doesn't hug as often as M does. She'll show her affection by leaning against me when she's tired or offering me one of her fruit snacks. It makes getting affection from her that much more special. That's not to downplay my hugs from M; I love getting big bear hugs and hearing how much she loves me.

Off to ballet! We got there in plenty of time to dress and hang out a little before class started. I hung out with the coolest little boy outside her class today. I've seen him every week and I always admire his amazingly blonde hair, but today we talked! His name is Aiden (which is one of my favorite boy's names). He is 3 years-old which he demonstrated by holding up 3 fingers awkwardly, and then we counted through the rest of his fingers to see how old he'll be on the next 7 birthdays. I wish I could babysit him everyday.

W complains about not wanting to go to class every week but once she's there I know she has fun because she comes out with lots of energy and smiling. That is a question I've had for awhile that I can't seem to get a good answer for. What do you do when the child tells you they don't want to go and they seem pretty persistent on that? If they're near tears and they're at the building and changed but then they don't want to go into the classroom, do you make them go anyway and tell them they'll have a good time? Or not make them go in and leave? I'm among the belief that you should try everything to get them to go in and if they start a crying, screaming fit then you can move on. It hasn't gotten to that point, thank G-d, but I feel almost guilty for forcing her to go in when she says every week she doesn't want to. I know she has fun once she's there though which is what I tell her will happen because that happened to me in ballet class too.

I noticed today that I'm the ONLY white nanny at that ballet studio. There are tons of white parents, in fact, most of the parents are white. But I am the only white nanny. The nannies are African-American, Caribbean, Mexican, Filipino, you name it. It's just like my book I'm reading right now draws it out to be. I'm reading 'The Perfect Stranger: The Relationship Between Mothers and Nannies' and I find it fascinating. Most of the nannies the author has stories about are not Caucasian and she talks about the pros and the cons of having a nanny from another part of the world that grew up culturally different and has a different set of beliefs for how the child should be raised. It's really interesting.

They were amazing for their baths today. They wanted to take separate baths which I told them was fine as long as they took quick ones. W went first and she wanted to surprise me by doing everything without me having to ask. I was sitting in the bathroom like I always do while they're in the bath, and M was sneakily taking videos of me on her camera. W would tell me to close my eyes and tell me when I could open them, and every time I opened my eyes she would have finished washing her body or her hair and was on to the next thing. It was so touching that she was trying to make me happy by surprising me with how she could do it on her own. She got a real kick out of it every time I gasped in astonishment at how fast she was and it encouraged her even more. She got in her pj's all by herself without me even having to ask which normally is a long process of me putting them on for them. Then while I was blow-drying W's hair M went and did the same thing and was out and in her pj's in no time at all. I was so touched. I told them I wanted to give them each 8 gold stars. I need to go get gold star stickers so I can start giving them stars when they do things like that that make me happy.

That reminds me- M's tutor, T, gives M Scholar Dollars which she earns when she does her homework. M has gotten really excited about it and I think W was getting jealous, so T gave me a scholar dollar to make copies of so I can start giving them to W when she does work or does a good job reading. It's so sweet how excited W got about it. I spent awhile cutting them out and W ended up earning 5 Scholar Dollars at the end of the day! She did several pages in her math activity book and I gave her $2 for that because she never does work in her activity book.

M was complaining of a tummy ache once I started drying her hair and she didn't have an appetite so she didn't have dinner. I hung out with M in her room while she layed down on the bed. Then the mom told me W needed to make one more butterfly valentine for her teacher and asked if I could help her make that. She said she needed another envelope for it. We canned the butterfly idea and she made a large heart valentine. I made another brilliant envelope out of paper and W was very pleased with her valentine.

W gave me a big hug when we were done with reading which was really nice. When I got to M's room to read to her she was already tucked in bed which was SHOCKING because that child normally has so much energy she's bouncing around all over the bed while I'm reading to her. She said she was really tired and she was going to close her eyes while I read. That was fine by me! I told her it was OK if she fell asleep while I was reading and I thought that she had! I was reading really quietly but then she started stirring. She said she was going to be sick so I got her sat up and tried to get her to the bathroom before she puked but we didn't make it in time. She threw up all over the side of her bed and on her carpet. I was like ooooh, shit. So I quickly ushered her to the bathroom where she puked some more into the toilet. I pulled her hair back which already had vomit in it and tied it back in a pony. The things we do...

I felt so bad for her. The mom went straight to the bedroom and started cleaning right away leaving me to tend for M. I took off her pj's because she got throw up on them and put her in the bathtub. I washed her hair again and got her in new pj's. The mom was reprimanding her for eating too much snack at B's. She said she was sick from eating too much goldfish on an otherwise empty stomach. I was like, are you serious right now? Your daughter just got sick everywhere and you're reprimanding her for eating too much snack?? I was impressed that the mom even cleaned up the puke. Mercy had gone home for the night so it was just me and the mom to deal with it. I dried M's hair again and got her in new pj's. Then I washed her puky pj's in the bathtub with woolite and hung them to dry. M felt much better after she threw up, she just needed to get that out of her system. I ended up being there an extra half hour to take care of everything. When I left the mom tried giving me extra money and I wouldn't take it. I told her she didn't need to and she didn't force it upon me! I was surprised she didn't just give it to me anyway. That would have been the appropriate thing to do. Oh well. I just felt bad for M, I'm glad I was there to help.

These children and getting sick...I swear. I can't deal with these throw ups anymore!!