So I am a blog FAIL.
Is the fact that I haven't updated in 2 weeks a testament to the fact that I've been super busy? Or too tired/lazy to update at the crack of dawn or in the middle of the night? I think a combination of both. Regardless, I feel like I have ruined the flow and I'm sad about that. So how should I proceed from here? Update for each day I missed separately or put it all into one long-ass entry?
Let's go all the way back to last Tuesday, the day after I spent the night at their house when W was sick. Do you remember that? I still do. I just decided I'm going to update everything in this entry...so here goes....
That Monday night when I stayed the night was one of the most exhausting evenings/mornings I've ever had. Tuesday was perhaps one of the longest days of my life. I had to wake up every 4 hours to check W's temperature. At 2:30am she had a slight fever again so I had to wake the poor girl to give her medicine. At 6:30am the fever was gone. Then at 7:15 the mom called to check in and she asked me a million questions. Then W woke up at 7:30am so I had to stay up with her all day from that point on. From 7:30am to 7:30pm I was with that girl. I stayed in my pj's the entire 12 hours. That was nice. I could hardly keep my eyes open when we were playing in the morning and the huge mug of coffee I drank did NOTHING. She's not normally allowed to watch TV or movies but I figured since today was different and we had 12 hours together, a movie would be a splendid idea. We put on her new Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure movie in the library and watched it laying down on my air mattress. I definitely fell asleep in the first 5 minutes of the movie and was thankful for that hour nap. When we woke up we made videos on my computer in the photobooth. They were pretty darn cute...I wish I could upload them to this.
Then we played a board game while I had soup. She still didn't have an appetite. We played playmobile all day and recorded us playing on her camera. I think she's going to be a director when she grows up. Mercy and W then talked shit about their old nanny. It was really funny because they would act out things she did and said. She really did seem horrible. W didn't want to take a full bath but she hadn't bathed yesterday so I gave her a sponge bath in the sink. That was not as easy as I thought it would be. I rinsed her hair in the bathtub faucet and got myself pretty wet in the process.
Eight hours later.....M came home. As I was getting her ready for her bath she complained about how she never has time to play. I really felt bad for her. Her daily schedule is so packed with tutors and homework and bath time and dinner time that she really doesn't have any time to play. I sympathized with her for awhile.
The worst part of the day was the parents kept calling to check in. That should be a good thing because the parents are expressing their concern for her! But I just felt like I was on autopilot telling them the same things over and over.
Onto Wednesday....
The mom had asked me to pick up M from school because W stayed home from school again, even though she was perfectly fine. There was a produce and vegetable stand on the sidewalk near their school where I took M after I picked her up. We got some mangoes and I got some cucumbers and peppers to bring home with me. I love those cheap stands. I gave W and M mango for their snack. It was delish.
Bathtime with the girls was fun because they taught me a Japanese song. My homework was to learn the song because they were going to quiz me on it the next day. I wrote down the words in phonetics and remembered the tune so now I have a new song I know in Japanese. Maybe I should put that on my resume....(just kidding).
Their dad came back from his trip late Tuesday night so he was there Wednesday night at his normal time. That stunk. It was bad timing because I had gotten a call from someone while I was there asking me if I could replace someone in a reading of a new play. I was so excited and she said the director was going to call soon which I said was fine. I told the girls I was getting an important call from a director who might put me in a show. They were worried I was going to leave them to do a show. That made me so sad on a few levels. I felt bad they were worried I would leave them, but when it comes down to it, if I booked a good show I would leave them for it because that's my career. It made me feel guilty about the day that I do leave them for theatre because I didn't realize they would actually be that sad about it. I assured them I wasn't leaving and that they came first :-/
The dad came home while I was on the phone so I had to hang up quickly and quietly. Awkward. I didn't get to eat dinner with them because the dad was there. In fact, I prepared his plate and cleaned up after all of them still. I couldn't believe I even catered on the dad. Correction: yes I could.
Ok, we're zipping through these....onto Thursday....
W's ballet schedule changed from Wednesdays to Thursdays but Mercy didn't know that. It occurred to me that Mercy probably didn't pack her ballet bag with her so I called Mercy and told her about the change and asked if she could get that together. We came home between school and ballet because there was an hour and a half break in between. We raced to ballet and I got her in the door right in time before her class started. I had met the mother of one of W's classmates and friends who's in the same ballet class as she is. We planned on making a playdate for the 2 of them next week between school and ballet. I told her the mom was in Japan but that I would communicate with her to make it happen.
I've been reading "The White House Nannies" and I have to say, I don't know if I have it really good or if I'm getting jipped. I'm gonna say I have it pretty good. I don't have to live at their house and be on duty ALL day. But these nannies that live with the families get their own nanny quarters, including walk-in closets, their own car, a full bathroom suite, the list goes on. These families treat their nannies amazingly, which they should since they're slave-drivers with them.
During playtime W was telling me how she's the tooth fairy. She's really into fairies. I think I've mentioned before that the only books I read to her at night are from the Fairy series. I've grown very tired of reading about Rachel Walker and Kirsty Tate and their fairy adventures. I asked her a lot of questions about how she gets the teeth from underneath the pillow without waking the children and where she keeps the teeth and how many she has. She had some pretty good answers. She's very imaginative, that one.
I had another awkward encounter with her tonight regarding the human body. I was reading her book in bed and she was laying against my chest with her head resting on my boob. All of a sudden, she sits up, and looks at it and says, "wait, what was I laying on?" And I said, "my chest". She said, "but what exactly is that?" and points to my right boob. I said, "you know what that is...." and she said "no I don't" and I said, "you know..." (pause. pause). "women have breasts". She says, "I thought they were called boobies". Now what am I supposed to say?? Doesn't she know what breasts are?! I told her that was a slang term and then had to explain what slang was. Oy vey.
Thursday wasn't anything special....now for Friday....we're almost done with the week!
Friday was ROUGH. From the second I picked up W from her classroom I knew it was going to a hard day. She was so grumpy and wouldn't talk to me and just whined about everything. I figured she was really tired because she was acting classic exhausted. She dragged her feet the entire way and wouldn't let me put on her scarf or hat. She was being such a pill. I feel bad saying that because she's only 5 but she really was. She kept whining about wanting gum and I kept telling her she can't have any because her mom doesn't let her have it. She kept trying to find loop holes and I kept saying no and she kept whining about it. Oooooh, it was so aggravating.
When we got back to her place I had a brilliant idea. I didn't want to stay home with her all afternoon if she was going to be acting like that, so I thought of a way to get out of the house. I suggested we go to the bookstore and get her a new fairy book. I had told her before that we could do that and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity. She immediately perked up. Thank G-d.
We went to Barnes and Noble and I told her she could get 2 books. I thought that was pretty generous of me but that wasn't enough for her. She kept seeing books she wanted and asked if we could get "just this one too" and I stuck to my guns and said only 2. She would give me the pouty face and say "pweease, Emmy?" I said, that is not going to work, missy. Two books is enough for one trip and if you finish them really fast we can come back and get more. I am trying to teach her to be grateful for what she gets and to be respectful. I don't want to spoil her more than she already is.
We ended up getting 2 fairy books. I saw a lot of other children's books that were classics for me and tried to get her to get one of those but she wanted only fairy books. I love children's books. I got very nostalgic in that section. There was a large woman walking in front of us and W pulled me down and whispered to me, "that woman has a really big butt". It was true and I couldn't stop laughing. But through my laughing I was trying to keep a straight face and tell her that was not a nice thing to say.
When we got in the cab she was even more tuckered out and she layed down against my side and held my hand. I wasn't mad at her in that moment.
It was when T (M's tutor) came that the real trouble started. When we got home they were already working, but they had decided to work in W's room at her table. I didn't have a problem with that as long as W didn't. She didn't mind...in fact, she wanted to sit with them and play while they were doing their work. I let her stay as long as she was quiet and didn't distract them. Then she wanted to read in there, and I told her if she wanted to read we needed to go into another room because we couldn't distract M. She was NOT happy about this. I suggested every possible place in their house to read. I even suggested her closet, but she would only have it at the table where they were working in her room. This is when the tantrum began...
She started crying a little and I thought I could remedy it and held her on my lap, but then the crying became screaming, and then the screaming became her on the floor kicking her heels into the ground and kicking her legs true tantrum style, and not letting me touch her. Mercy came running into the room because she thought was something wrong and I explained that she was just very tired and she would be fine. Mercy was worried which only made me more frustrated because I was like, she's FINE. Then T and M came into the room to find out what was wrong and so everyone is trying to get involved and stop the crying but it wasn't helping and I was just getting increasingly more frustrated and tired of trying to stop it myself. She finally stopped when T told her she could read with her for 5 minutes, which is all W wanted to do in the first place and I had said no. Now I look like the bad guy. Great. Thanks. At least it stopped the screaming and kicking!
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself because I was about to start kicking and screaming myself. She was calm for about 10 minutes and then she cut her finger with a jagged fingernail and starting crying all over again about how much it hurt. Here we go....allll over again. I gave her a pretty Strawberry Shortcake band-aid and made her take 5 deep breaths.
I gave them their bath and got them ready and packed to go to their weekend home. The dad called and said he would be there in half an hour to pick them up, so Mercy and I were frantically getting their bag packed and putting clothes on them. The dad was very punctual and was waiting downstairs in the car at exactly 6:30pm. I went downstairs with them and got them in the car and said goodbyes. I got back in the elevator to go upstairs and get my stuff to leave and almost cried I was so happy for the weekend.
Congratulations if you have made it this far in the entry. We have gone through a week of chaos in one entry. Now to do it all over again for the next 5 days!
Let's see what adventures take place in...dun dun dun....nanny land.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Apology
To those (2) of you that actually read this blog, I apologize for my lack in posting. I haven't had a single night to update since Monday. I promise this weekend I will get back on track!!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Never again....
Remember that time I ended my last post with "next week is going to be fun"? I think I spoke too soon.
Today was super crazy and rough. I didn't like it one bit. It started off at 1:05pm when I checked my phone in the locker room post work out and had 2 voicemails from Mercy. She was freaking out about getting in touch with me because she had to pick up W from school early because she threw up at school twice and she needed me to call her tutor to tell her W wouldn't be coming in today. I somehow knew the last name of her tutor and I looked her up on my blackberry and left her a voicemail. I assured her I would pick up M from school since I was in the neighborhood thinking I would be getting W in an hour, and I said I would take her to her tutor's. This all happened. It was nice because instead of needing to be at school at 2, I didn't need to be there until 3. I spent an hour in the Barnes and Noble cafe across the street drinking a skinny cinnamon dolce latte and reading my book.
This was the end of the relaxation.
I picked up M and took her to her tutor's, no problems. We get home and W is sleeping on the couch in the library, poor little thing. M was being sweet and made a card for her because she felt bad she was sick. Mercy was asking me if I knew anything about what to do for her stomach. She apparently threw up in the hall at their house too. She couldn't keep anything down. I told Mercy she should sip ginger ale and eat saltine crackers. Mercy left to go get these things and I sat in a chair next to W making sure she didn't get sick again. M was really asking for attention and I felt bad I couldn't give it to her but I needed to be by W and M was being too loud.
W woke up not too long after and looked so sick. I felt so bad for her. She looked feverish and hot. Her body was so limp and she looked so sad in the eyes. She could hardy move her head and she was barely speaking. I was really concerned. We took her temperature and she had a fever of 101.5. I called her doctor to ask what I should do and he said I needed to take her to the ER immediately. I thought that was a bit harsh but I guess when children have fevers they escalate more quickly and it can be really dangerous if it keeps rising. Mercy is freaking out and I'm trying to keep her calm and telling her she's going to be fine, we just need to call her parents to get the insurance information. They left me with no insurance cards or information but I didn't even think I would need them. Their mom is in Japan and her dad is in Florida and it was impossible to reach either of them. I tried all 4 of the numbers I was given for the two of them and they all went straight to voicemail. One of them was a Japanese number and I needed M to listen to the voicemail and translate for me. I left them 4 voicemails asking me to call me back as soon as possible because I needed this information before I could take her to the ER.
It was so sad seeing W cry because she didn't want to go to the ER and she wanted Mercy to take her. Mercy wanted me to take her and for her to stay hone with M. Mercy was legitimately freaking out. I was keeping very calm throughout this whole thing and had a clear head about it all but Mercy was making me nervous. Mr. U called back shortly after and said he didn't want me to take her to the ER yet. He told me to give her lots of gatorade and put a Japanese cold patch on her forehead. He said to check back in with him in half an hour to see if the fever went down. In the meantime, her fever was rising and I was getting more nervous about keeping her at home. I got all the information for the ER and was prepared to just take her but I couldn't go against the dad's wishes.
I gave W a little bit of gatorade and some children's motrin to try to bring the fever down.
Then the mom called and said she called the doctor's and that they were expecting us to come in. I got W up and not more than 2 minutes later she threw up all over the floor. I felt so bad for her. She looked pathetic and weak. I thought for sure she had the flu. All the while, M is asking what she should do about her homework and her bath and her dinner and I had to tell her tonight was different and we couldn't go by our normal routine. I told M to just read in her bedroom. I was trying not to ignore her but this was not about her. I was worried about W and Mercy was just panicking.
W and I got in a cab and went to the doctor's office. It was pretty empty yet we waited for what felt like an eternity. She layed down against my body and I could feel the heat radiating off of her. Her neck was so sweaty and I was trying to keep her comfortable and happy. There's something heart-wrenching about a child in pain and not being able to help them. I just wanted to wrap her up in my arms and heal her.
When we got into the office they took her temperature and it had gone up to 102. Shit. Then the doctor gave her a liquid medicine to stop the vomiting and she kept that down.
Then she poured a little bit of coke into a dixie cup and we waited for the bubbles to go away. I was instructed to give her 1 CC of the coke every 30 seconds out of one of those injection thingies. We literally counted 30 seconds every time and I could see her cheering up with every sip of coke. She was so happy to be getting coke and I don't know if it was mental or not but she already looked so much better. Her energy came back and she did a total turn around. She was back to her normal self, going through my purse to find things to play with.
All the while, I was getting e-mails from the mom with her insurance information and asking me to call her with all updates. Mind you, this is all from her Japanese number and I'm not about to call that number from my cell phone. I was e-mailing her on my blackberry and calling the dad to give him the updates and calling Mercy to let her know she was OK so she could stop worrying. All day and night I was making and returning calls to and from her parents with updates. I told her mom I would stay at their house tonight which made Mercy very happy. The doctor said it's not the flu which I was really surprised about. We left the doctor's at 7:30 which is W's bedtime and we went to the pharmacy around the corner to get coke at the doctor's orders and infant tylenol just in case her fever did go back up.
She gave us quite a scare but then she was OK. I ate dinner at their house which Mercy left out for me because she knew I would be starving. Sweet, sweet woman. Then I tucked the girls in and went home to get my stuff, only to come back.
So here I am, in my pj's on a large blow-up air mattress in their library. This feel so strange. I never thought I would find myself in this position.
I have to pat myself on the back and say I think I did a pretty good job of acting like her mother today when I'm only the nanny. It was a good glimpse into the future of parenthood. It was scary but thank goodness she's OK.
M is excited to see me in my pj's. It's like one big slumber party.
Today was super crazy and rough. I didn't like it one bit. It started off at 1:05pm when I checked my phone in the locker room post work out and had 2 voicemails from Mercy. She was freaking out about getting in touch with me because she had to pick up W from school early because she threw up at school twice and she needed me to call her tutor to tell her W wouldn't be coming in today. I somehow knew the last name of her tutor and I looked her up on my blackberry and left her a voicemail. I assured her I would pick up M from school since I was in the neighborhood thinking I would be getting W in an hour, and I said I would take her to her tutor's. This all happened. It was nice because instead of needing to be at school at 2, I didn't need to be there until 3. I spent an hour in the Barnes and Noble cafe across the street drinking a skinny cinnamon dolce latte and reading my book.
This was the end of the relaxation.
I picked up M and took her to her tutor's, no problems. We get home and W is sleeping on the couch in the library, poor little thing. M was being sweet and made a card for her because she felt bad she was sick. Mercy was asking me if I knew anything about what to do for her stomach. She apparently threw up in the hall at their house too. She couldn't keep anything down. I told Mercy she should sip ginger ale and eat saltine crackers. Mercy left to go get these things and I sat in a chair next to W making sure she didn't get sick again. M was really asking for attention and I felt bad I couldn't give it to her but I needed to be by W and M was being too loud.
W woke up not too long after and looked so sick. I felt so bad for her. She looked feverish and hot. Her body was so limp and she looked so sad in the eyes. She could hardy move her head and she was barely speaking. I was really concerned. We took her temperature and she had a fever of 101.5. I called her doctor to ask what I should do and he said I needed to take her to the ER immediately. I thought that was a bit harsh but I guess when children have fevers they escalate more quickly and it can be really dangerous if it keeps rising. Mercy is freaking out and I'm trying to keep her calm and telling her she's going to be fine, we just need to call her parents to get the insurance information. They left me with no insurance cards or information but I didn't even think I would need them. Their mom is in Japan and her dad is in Florida and it was impossible to reach either of them. I tried all 4 of the numbers I was given for the two of them and they all went straight to voicemail. One of them was a Japanese number and I needed M to listen to the voicemail and translate for me. I left them 4 voicemails asking me to call me back as soon as possible because I needed this information before I could take her to the ER.
It was so sad seeing W cry because she didn't want to go to the ER and she wanted Mercy to take her. Mercy wanted me to take her and for her to stay hone with M. Mercy was legitimately freaking out. I was keeping very calm throughout this whole thing and had a clear head about it all but Mercy was making me nervous. Mr. U called back shortly after and said he didn't want me to take her to the ER yet. He told me to give her lots of gatorade and put a Japanese cold patch on her forehead. He said to check back in with him in half an hour to see if the fever went down. In the meantime, her fever was rising and I was getting more nervous about keeping her at home. I got all the information for the ER and was prepared to just take her but I couldn't go against the dad's wishes.
I gave W a little bit of gatorade and some children's motrin to try to bring the fever down.
Then the mom called and said she called the doctor's and that they were expecting us to come in. I got W up and not more than 2 minutes later she threw up all over the floor. I felt so bad for her. She looked pathetic and weak. I thought for sure she had the flu. All the while, M is asking what she should do about her homework and her bath and her dinner and I had to tell her tonight was different and we couldn't go by our normal routine. I told M to just read in her bedroom. I was trying not to ignore her but this was not about her. I was worried about W and Mercy was just panicking.
W and I got in a cab and went to the doctor's office. It was pretty empty yet we waited for what felt like an eternity. She layed down against my body and I could feel the heat radiating off of her. Her neck was so sweaty and I was trying to keep her comfortable and happy. There's something heart-wrenching about a child in pain and not being able to help them. I just wanted to wrap her up in my arms and heal her.
When we got into the office they took her temperature and it had gone up to 102. Shit. Then the doctor gave her a liquid medicine to stop the vomiting and she kept that down.
Then she poured a little bit of coke into a dixie cup and we waited for the bubbles to go away. I was instructed to give her 1 CC of the coke every 30 seconds out of one of those injection thingies. We literally counted 30 seconds every time and I could see her cheering up with every sip of coke. She was so happy to be getting coke and I don't know if it was mental or not but she already looked so much better. Her energy came back and she did a total turn around. She was back to her normal self, going through my purse to find things to play with.
All the while, I was getting e-mails from the mom with her insurance information and asking me to call her with all updates. Mind you, this is all from her Japanese number and I'm not about to call that number from my cell phone. I was e-mailing her on my blackberry and calling the dad to give him the updates and calling Mercy to let her know she was OK so she could stop worrying. All day and night I was making and returning calls to and from her parents with updates. I told her mom I would stay at their house tonight which made Mercy very happy. The doctor said it's not the flu which I was really surprised about. We left the doctor's at 7:30 which is W's bedtime and we went to the pharmacy around the corner to get coke at the doctor's orders and infant tylenol just in case her fever did go back up.
She gave us quite a scare but then she was OK. I ate dinner at their house which Mercy left out for me because she knew I would be starving. Sweet, sweet woman. Then I tucked the girls in and went home to get my stuff, only to come back.
So here I am, in my pj's on a large blow-up air mattress in their library. This feel so strange. I never thought I would find myself in this position.
I have to pat myself on the back and say I think I did a pretty good job of acting like her mother today when I'm only the nanny. It was a good glimpse into the future of parenthood. It was scary but thank goodness she's OK.
M is excited to see me in my pj's. It's like one big slumber party.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Emmy
I don't think I've ever mentioned that the girls both call me Emmy. M asked me if she could call me that the very first day and I had no objections. I think it's pretty cute, actually. No one else calls me that so it's my Nanny name!
Fridays are short days because they leave for their weekend home at 6:30. I can't say I mind this early departure.
I met another nanny today at the school. On Fridays for some reason, they get picked up at their classroom instead of in the lobby where I normally get her. This was my first Friday doing this so I didn't remember how to get to the classroom. Luckily, there was a girl signing in behind me who said she was going there too and would lead the way. She's an actress as well and I wanted to ask her how she was balancing nannying and acting but I didn't get a chance. She was very nice though and I'm sure I'll run into her again. Probably next week.
W was so cute showing me around her hallway and showing me the artwork she did. I think she was self-conscious about her artwork because she would show me a piece of art that she did and then she would see one that was better than hers and say, "oh wait, this is mine", even though I could see the initials on it and knew it wasn't hers.
I'll bet you can take a guess as to where we went after school. Again, W held my hand the whole way there and walked backwards the entire way. I had a very protective moment of W in 7-11 today. When we were picking out her snack, a very rambunctious girl in an ugly fluffy, pink coat came marching up to W and asked if she wanted to have a play date. She was chomping down on a pastry and was getting crumbs all over herself. W did not seem excited right off the bat. Then the mom came over. I had seen this mom in the hallways every day to pick up W. She was the one mother who always seemed a little more frantic and badly dressed. She has stringy, bleached hair and a smoker's skin. She has bad taste in coats, like her daughter, and has a dalmation print scraggly faux-fur coat. So the mom comes over and introduces herself to me and says she's (insert name here)'s mom. I recognized this name right away as the name that W said was the class bully. I was like ooooh, noooo. The bully wants to have a play date with W....absolutely not. Bully's mom asked W if she would like to come over next week for a play date and W shook her head. I could have hugged her right then. The mom was so insistent saying they could pick her up and drop her off, asking what day worked best, etc etc. She asked if she could arrange the play date through me or her mom and I said me, so she gave me her cell phone number. I could not believe this was happening. I can't imagine myself calling her to tell her that W is not available for a play date at all. I left it by saying I would check with her mother and would let her know.
I had a true moment out of 'The Nanny Diaries' today when we got back to their building. I was carrying W's backpack and she ran ahead into the elevator and crouched down in the corner like she always does. When I stepped into the elevator there was a cute guy asking me what floor because the elevator man wasn't there yet. I met my "Harvard cutie" in the elevator, which is where I think she meets her man in the book. He was laughing at W which is a good sign...he likes kids. I hope I run into him again.
When I was putting W's lunch bag away, I found a room that I've never ventured into before. It's very small, probably meant to be a kid's studio or a little playroom, so I explored because the mom wasn't home yet. It was full of antique lamps without the bulbs and antique paintings. I don't know if any of you have seen "An Education" yet (I hope you have because it's amazing), but if you have I hope you know what's running through my head. What are they doing with these antique pieces? They're not being used in their house....
I had a lot of time to kill with the girls today because they had no after school activities and no homework or reading to do with me because they were leaving at 6:30. I basically just had to play with them and give them their bath. Not a bad day. W loves to draw which is good because I love doodling, so we resorted to drawing again. She was so cute because she brought out the huge box of markers and she was pretending that they were all sleeping. We had to "wake up" the markers one by one to use them. It was pretty darling. W has a calendar where you're supposed to draw something for each month representing what the month is. For February she drew a lot of hearts and butterflies. I asked her and M if they would be my Valentine this year and they said yes. Not only do I have ONE valentine, I have 2! I wish Valentine's Day wasn't on a Sunday this year because I would have a lot of fun bringing them cute stuff.
M got to go to the NYC Transit Museum today on a field trip and I just happened to have gone there last week. I thought it was really neat how you could go down into the subway and walk into the subway cars from throughout the decades. M said she thought the museum was boring. I loved it!
My roommate knows a few phrases in Tagalog (the native language in the Philippines) so he taught me one I could say to Mercy. I told her "Salamot Po" which means "thank you very much". She was very touched that I learned that for her and she bowed her head and returned the phrase.
I gave the girls their bath fairly early on because there was nothing else to do. While I was blow-drying their hair the girls started singing "Do Re Mi" so I sang along, naturally, and we went through the song several times through. It was a Mary Poppin's moment.
Speaking of Mary Poppins, I received 3 of my 4 nanny books from amazon.com. I got "Searching for Mary Poppins: Women write about the relationship between mothers and nannies", "And Nanny Makes Three: Mothers and nannies tell the truth about work, love, money, and each other", and "White House Nannies: True tales from the other department of Homeland Security". That last one I can thank my best friend, Suzanne, for. She recommended that one and I went on amazon to find it and ended up buying 3 more books. I'm really excited to get started on these.
I always pick out their pj's for after the bath or in this case, their clothes. They were going to be in the car to drive to their weekend house so I gave them comfy clothes to wear. They both had simple long-sleeved shirts. They put them on, no problems. Later, Mercy came in and saw that they didn't have undershirts on underneath. Mercy said it was their dad's rule that they needed undershirts on at all times. I don't understand that one but whatever.
The dad came home earlier than he normally does and I was surprised to see him come into the bedroom where we all were and give them kisses. It was the most affectionate I had ever seen him with them. I thought, maybe this family is pretty functional when they're all together. They do spend the weekend together as the 4 of them, after all. He requested that M do her 20 minutes of reading with me before they left and she was not excited. I sat down on her bed and she read laying down with her legs draped over my legs. W sat nearby drawing. It felt like a family.
I didn't realize this but the mom is leaving for Japan on Saturday morning and is going to be there through all next week and a few days the following week. She typed up a very detailed schedule for me and Mercy. W's schedule was in green ink, M's schedule in pink. This coordinated with their bath towels. Very clever. Then the dad is going to be in Europe for a few of those days that she's also gone, so it will be just me and Mercy. I cannot wait. She sat me down and went over the schedule with me to make sure I knew everything going on. They have a busy schedule next week between play dates, ballet, tutoring, and T tutoring. The mom gave me the class directories for M and W and told me for the play dates that I could look up the family to find their address and their phone number. This week is going to feel more like parenting than ever.
She gave me an envelope with $200 in it for the week and a half which is meant for transportation (read: taxis). I don't think we're going to use it all and I wish I could just keep the change, but I don't see that happening.
Next week is going to be fun....stay tuned.
Fridays are short days because they leave for their weekend home at 6:30. I can't say I mind this early departure.
I met another nanny today at the school. On Fridays for some reason, they get picked up at their classroom instead of in the lobby where I normally get her. This was my first Friday doing this so I didn't remember how to get to the classroom. Luckily, there was a girl signing in behind me who said she was going there too and would lead the way. She's an actress as well and I wanted to ask her how she was balancing nannying and acting but I didn't get a chance. She was very nice though and I'm sure I'll run into her again. Probably next week.
W was so cute showing me around her hallway and showing me the artwork she did. I think she was self-conscious about her artwork because she would show me a piece of art that she did and then she would see one that was better than hers and say, "oh wait, this is mine", even though I could see the initials on it and knew it wasn't hers.
I'll bet you can take a guess as to where we went after school. Again, W held my hand the whole way there and walked backwards the entire way. I had a very protective moment of W in 7-11 today. When we were picking out her snack, a very rambunctious girl in an ugly fluffy, pink coat came marching up to W and asked if she wanted to have a play date. She was chomping down on a pastry and was getting crumbs all over herself. W did not seem excited right off the bat. Then the mom came over. I had seen this mom in the hallways every day to pick up W. She was the one mother who always seemed a little more frantic and badly dressed. She has stringy, bleached hair and a smoker's skin. She has bad taste in coats, like her daughter, and has a dalmation print scraggly faux-fur coat. So the mom comes over and introduces herself to me and says she's (insert name here)'s mom. I recognized this name right away as the name that W said was the class bully. I was like ooooh, noooo. The bully wants to have a play date with W....absolutely not. Bully's mom asked W if she would like to come over next week for a play date and W shook her head. I could have hugged her right then. The mom was so insistent saying they could pick her up and drop her off, asking what day worked best, etc etc. She asked if she could arrange the play date through me or her mom and I said me, so she gave me her cell phone number. I could not believe this was happening. I can't imagine myself calling her to tell her that W is not available for a play date at all. I left it by saying I would check with her mother and would let her know.
I had a true moment out of 'The Nanny Diaries' today when we got back to their building. I was carrying W's backpack and she ran ahead into the elevator and crouched down in the corner like she always does. When I stepped into the elevator there was a cute guy asking me what floor because the elevator man wasn't there yet. I met my "Harvard cutie" in the elevator, which is where I think she meets her man in the book. He was laughing at W which is a good sign...he likes kids. I hope I run into him again.
When I was putting W's lunch bag away, I found a room that I've never ventured into before. It's very small, probably meant to be a kid's studio or a little playroom, so I explored because the mom wasn't home yet. It was full of antique lamps without the bulbs and antique paintings. I don't know if any of you have seen "An Education" yet (I hope you have because it's amazing), but if you have I hope you know what's running through my head. What are they doing with these antique pieces? They're not being used in their house....
I had a lot of time to kill with the girls today because they had no after school activities and no homework or reading to do with me because they were leaving at 6:30. I basically just had to play with them and give them their bath. Not a bad day. W loves to draw which is good because I love doodling, so we resorted to drawing again. She was so cute because she brought out the huge box of markers and she was pretending that they were all sleeping. We had to "wake up" the markers one by one to use them. It was pretty darling. W has a calendar where you're supposed to draw something for each month representing what the month is. For February she drew a lot of hearts and butterflies. I asked her and M if they would be my Valentine this year and they said yes. Not only do I have ONE valentine, I have 2! I wish Valentine's Day wasn't on a Sunday this year because I would have a lot of fun bringing them cute stuff.
M got to go to the NYC Transit Museum today on a field trip and I just happened to have gone there last week. I thought it was really neat how you could go down into the subway and walk into the subway cars from throughout the decades. M said she thought the museum was boring. I loved it!
My roommate knows a few phrases in Tagalog (the native language in the Philippines) so he taught me one I could say to Mercy. I told her "Salamot Po" which means "thank you very much". She was very touched that I learned that for her and she bowed her head and returned the phrase.
I gave the girls their bath fairly early on because there was nothing else to do. While I was blow-drying their hair the girls started singing "Do Re Mi" so I sang along, naturally, and we went through the song several times through. It was a Mary Poppin's moment.
Speaking of Mary Poppins, I received 3 of my 4 nanny books from amazon.com. I got "Searching for Mary Poppins: Women write about the relationship between mothers and nannies", "And Nanny Makes Three: Mothers and nannies tell the truth about work, love, money, and each other", and "White House Nannies: True tales from the other department of Homeland Security". That last one I can thank my best friend, Suzanne, for. She recommended that one and I went on amazon to find it and ended up buying 3 more books. I'm really excited to get started on these.
I always pick out their pj's for after the bath or in this case, their clothes. They were going to be in the car to drive to their weekend house so I gave them comfy clothes to wear. They both had simple long-sleeved shirts. They put them on, no problems. Later, Mercy came in and saw that they didn't have undershirts on underneath. Mercy said it was their dad's rule that they needed undershirts on at all times. I don't understand that one but whatever.
The dad came home earlier than he normally does and I was surprised to see him come into the bedroom where we all were and give them kisses. It was the most affectionate I had ever seen him with them. I thought, maybe this family is pretty functional when they're all together. They do spend the weekend together as the 4 of them, after all. He requested that M do her 20 minutes of reading with me before they left and she was not excited. I sat down on her bed and she read laying down with her legs draped over my legs. W sat nearby drawing. It felt like a family.
I didn't realize this but the mom is leaving for Japan on Saturday morning and is going to be there through all next week and a few days the following week. She typed up a very detailed schedule for me and Mercy. W's schedule was in green ink, M's schedule in pink. This coordinated with their bath towels. Very clever. Then the dad is going to be in Europe for a few of those days that she's also gone, so it will be just me and Mercy. I cannot wait. She sat me down and went over the schedule with me to make sure I knew everything going on. They have a busy schedule next week between play dates, ballet, tutoring, and T tutoring. The mom gave me the class directories for M and W and told me for the play dates that I could look up the family to find their address and their phone number. This week is going to feel more like parenting than ever.
She gave me an envelope with $200 in it for the week and a half which is meant for transportation (read: taxis). I don't think we're going to use it all and I wish I could just keep the change, but I don't see that happening.
Next week is going to be fun....stay tuned.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Saisho Wa Gu!
I have to start this entry off with the story behind the title of this entry. I have finally mastered how to say "Rock, Paper, Scissors" in Japanese. They played it in the car the first day I was with them, and I was enthralled. I wanted to learn it right away but I couldn't get a grasp of the words and I could not learn it for the life of me. Every so often I would ask the girls if they could say it again so I could learn it. This usually happened in the bathtub- I would be sitting on the toilet lid next to them and testing my Rock, Paper, Scissors ability. They would giggle non-stop and make fun of my accent. M once said, "once you practice it a lot your accent will get better". She called me out! Well, I am proud to say that although I have not mastered the accent, I now know the whole chant. I have no idea how to type it so you'll just have to trust me. But next time you're with me in person, ask me to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with you in Japanese and I will kick your butt :)
I really love these girls. I could never replace their mother and I know that I'm not, but it's starting to feel as if the girls are needing me more. Even though that's sad, I sort of like it. Today was the second day in a row where W came out of school smiling to see me. She held my hand the whole way to 7-11 which was unprecedented. One may think it's weird I notice these things but I think it shows a huge jump in our relationship. She was so sweet and cooperative in 7-11, not whining when I told her she could only have 1 pack of gummies instead of 2, and not running away from me like she used to do.
Even though I complain all the time about the mom and about the family situation, I'm actually pretty lucky because it could be a lot worse. I got 2 e-mails on my blackberry while I was on the bus on my way to pick up W, and they were both from the nanny agency I'm a member of. I joined this nanny agency and then got this job right beforehand, so I haven't actually used the agency for anything yet but I get the e-mails even still. Anywaaaay, one of the e-mails was saying this family needs a nanny who can be there all day and who doesn't mind doing housework on top of it. I can't imagine watching these girls AND cleaning the house at the same time. I pick up after them all the time but that's the extent of cleaning. The e-mail said the dad in the family is away on business trips a lot so they need someone who can assume a lot of the responsibility. That made me sad that the dad is never home. Then I got another e-mail about a woman who needed a sitter an hour and a half from then and who had an NYU ID. Well, ma'am, what are you going to do with your son in an hour and a half when you haven't found a sitter? I just can't believe that parents leave it up to such last minute.
I also got a text on the bus from the mother of my family saying that she and her husband are going out tonight and she said she cooked pasta that I would just need to reheat. Wait, rewind....SHE cooked the pasta?? I have a really hard time believing that...
W and I were finishing up a necklace that she was making for her mom out of colorful wooden beads when the mom came in and said she had a visitor coming. This visitor was a guy who came to assess all the doors and handles in their house, because the mom had made a list of each door that was having a problem, and let me tell you, these were hardly problems. Not problematic enough to call for getting the entire door replaced! They're replacing every door in the house almost because of a knob that's hard to turn or something lame like that. The mom told me she was expecting a delivery from the back door and that if the doorbell rang I should get it since she was going to be occupied with the handy man. The doorbell rang and I went to receive the package, and it was her dry cleaning....not just any dry cleaning....a Valentino dress. Valentino. Not fair.
W and I played on our own for awhile, playing hide and seek or playing with markers or making jewelry. She was fun to play with today again because she said "yes". She was telling me a story about how her mom once yelled at kids for being too loud in the park at night time because they were keeping W up. W said, "see? I told you she's strict". That was the first time I heard one of the girls call their mom out on being harsh. M, I think, feels the brunt more than W because she has tons of homework and W doesn't.
M came home later because she met with her tutor today. The mom told me in the text that M had to finish her homework before bath so I helped her with her homework while Mercy entertained W. Thank goodness for Mercy. While I was playing with M in the bath, Mercy was helping W make spiders out of silly putty to scare me with because W knows how much I HATE spiders. Isn't she sweet?
W had her bath time earlier which was awesome because I told her she needed to take a quick bath, and she washed her hair and conditioned it in 22 seconds. I'm not so sure how clean she actually got but I don't care because I was so happy she was so quick. M got a very quick bath too and then before I knew it, the mom was gone and I was left to handle the evening alone....and with Mercy.
When the mom left, she didn't even say bye to the girls. She stopped in the doorway of W's room where I was drying their hair and she was wearing a black dress with feathery and sparkly sleeves. She looked like an exquisite bird. She said, "I expect you to keep to your bed times tonight", and with a whisk of her dress around the corner, she was gone. No kisses on the foreheads and "I love you's". The girls either didn't notice the lack of love or didn't care, because then they got pretty hyper for dinner. I think they were taking advantage of the fact that their mom wasn't there so they thought they could act out more than normal....and I actually let them.
Tonight was the best because I sat at the head of the table in between the 2 girls where the mom normally sits, and I had a big mug of coffee (Starbucks via again) and just sat there like the mom does. W was quick to inform me that I can't put my elbows on the table. She showed me the proper way- by folding your hands and placing just your hands on the table. I should have guessed that. From where I could sit at the head, I had the best view: I could see the windows to my left in the dining room with the city lights shining through, but then I could see into the dark living room with it's massive windows wrapping around all the walls, and I could make out the city lights faintly through the curtains. I would love to have that view every night.
There was some pasta left over in the pot and Mercy asked if I wanted it. Have I mentioned that I love her? So I got to eat real food for dinner! M had cantaloupe for dessert which I snuck some pieces of, and W had squeezy yogurt, her favorite. I even got my own dessert. I had gotten a Greek yogurt with pomegranate seeds at 7-11, so I ate that for dessert. Then when M saw that she wanted a yogurt and W wanted another squeezy yogurt. Normally I would have said no to 2 desserts but they had been good that day and I was in particularly good mood since we were home alone.
When I got the spoons for the yogurt I got a generic spoon, a silver spoon that I would use in my kitchen. W said, "you can't use those! You have to use the nice silverware!" She pulled out the next drawer which was full of Tiffany's silverware. Yeah, they use Tiffany's silverware at dinner every night. Whomp. I asked how come I had to use those instead and she said, "Mom says they're more presentable". I just can't understand how it matters what's more presentable or not when there's no company over.
Mercy was a hoot because she saw a notice from M's school that M was going on a field trip tomorrow and that they needed to bring a bag lunch. Mercy was like, "Mrs. U didn't tell me about this! Do I need to do this?" She didn't know what to pack them and was freaking out about bringing the wrong things even though it just said they can't have candy or soda or peanuts. She made M a roll with butter and cheese on it. It was...cute looking. I was helping her to figure out what to pack and what to put it in because she was so frantic about it, which is really funny because normally she's so on top of everything!
The girls gave me a tough time about brushing their teeth but then it was smooth sailing. I read to W first like I always do while M read to Mercy in the other room. I put her down, knowing fully well that she would not be going to sleep any time soon. Then I got my half hour time to read Harry Potter with M. I checked up on W, was not sleeping, so I turned out her light at 8:00pm. Then I went into the nanny room where Mercy was ironing. She was sleeping there again since the parents were gone and she was still working. She's a slave horse.
I ended up staying in that room talking to Mercy for half an hour. It was the best. We talked about her kids and all her grandchildren, and the family she used to work for and how long she's worked for this family. I learned she's from the Philippines. She asked what I did and I told her I was an actress. She got all excited and said, "have you heard of Lea Salonga?" I told her my room mate did a show in Asia with her and that they were friends and that Lea is very nice. She was very excited about that. She told me the family she worked for previously to the U's, she was with for 9 years. She was with them from the time the boy was 6 months old to when he was 9 years old. She slept there every night and she was the one in charge of waking up in the middle of the night when the baby cried to feed him and rock him. She said she worked 24 hours there and didn't get paid as much as she does here. I can't imagine. She said the mom was very lazy and did nothing but would order Mercy to do everything.
I asked questions about the U's because I have no idea what the parents do. As soon as I brought up the parents, she started talking in a whisper as if it was top secret and we weren't supposed to know. She said that Mrs. U's parents bought them this apartment in NY. She said they own a school that has locations in Japan, Hawaii, Italy, and in the US. I suppose they are the main source of income for their family. Mrs. U, however, is the president of this school and she makes $2 million a year. Mercy was like, don't tell them you know this! I'm not supposed to talk about this. Mr. U owns his own real-estate business.
Mercy was going on too about their weekend house in Purchase and how amazing it is. She said it's 5x the size of their apartment here which I honestly cannot fathom. She said Mrs. U's bathroom there is incredible. I told her I thought her bathroom HERE was incredible! Mercy said, "oh, this is nothing. You would be amazed".
I kissed each girl on the forehead before I left and said "sweet dreams" and I said a warm goodnight to Mercy because now I feel much closer to her, and I crept out with a full heart.
I really love these girls. I could never replace their mother and I know that I'm not, but it's starting to feel as if the girls are needing me more. Even though that's sad, I sort of like it. Today was the second day in a row where W came out of school smiling to see me. She held my hand the whole way to 7-11 which was unprecedented. One may think it's weird I notice these things but I think it shows a huge jump in our relationship. She was so sweet and cooperative in 7-11, not whining when I told her she could only have 1 pack of gummies instead of 2, and not running away from me like she used to do.
Even though I complain all the time about the mom and about the family situation, I'm actually pretty lucky because it could be a lot worse. I got 2 e-mails on my blackberry while I was on the bus on my way to pick up W, and they were both from the nanny agency I'm a member of. I joined this nanny agency and then got this job right beforehand, so I haven't actually used the agency for anything yet but I get the e-mails even still. Anywaaaay, one of the e-mails was saying this family needs a nanny who can be there all day and who doesn't mind doing housework on top of it. I can't imagine watching these girls AND cleaning the house at the same time. I pick up after them all the time but that's the extent of cleaning. The e-mail said the dad in the family is away on business trips a lot so they need someone who can assume a lot of the responsibility. That made me sad that the dad is never home. Then I got another e-mail about a woman who needed a sitter an hour and a half from then and who had an NYU ID. Well, ma'am, what are you going to do with your son in an hour and a half when you haven't found a sitter? I just can't believe that parents leave it up to such last minute.
I also got a text on the bus from the mother of my family saying that she and her husband are going out tonight and she said she cooked pasta that I would just need to reheat. Wait, rewind....SHE cooked the pasta?? I have a really hard time believing that...
W and I were finishing up a necklace that she was making for her mom out of colorful wooden beads when the mom came in and said she had a visitor coming. This visitor was a guy who came to assess all the doors and handles in their house, because the mom had made a list of each door that was having a problem, and let me tell you, these were hardly problems. Not problematic enough to call for getting the entire door replaced! They're replacing every door in the house almost because of a knob that's hard to turn or something lame like that. The mom told me she was expecting a delivery from the back door and that if the doorbell rang I should get it since she was going to be occupied with the handy man. The doorbell rang and I went to receive the package, and it was her dry cleaning....not just any dry cleaning....a Valentino dress. Valentino. Not fair.
W and I played on our own for awhile, playing hide and seek or playing with markers or making jewelry. She was fun to play with today again because she said "yes". She was telling me a story about how her mom once yelled at kids for being too loud in the park at night time because they were keeping W up. W said, "see? I told you she's strict". That was the first time I heard one of the girls call their mom out on being harsh. M, I think, feels the brunt more than W because she has tons of homework and W doesn't.
M came home later because she met with her tutor today. The mom told me in the text that M had to finish her homework before bath so I helped her with her homework while Mercy entertained W. Thank goodness for Mercy. While I was playing with M in the bath, Mercy was helping W make spiders out of silly putty to scare me with because W knows how much I HATE spiders. Isn't she sweet?
W had her bath time earlier which was awesome because I told her she needed to take a quick bath, and she washed her hair and conditioned it in 22 seconds. I'm not so sure how clean she actually got but I don't care because I was so happy she was so quick. M got a very quick bath too and then before I knew it, the mom was gone and I was left to handle the evening alone....and with Mercy.
When the mom left, she didn't even say bye to the girls. She stopped in the doorway of W's room where I was drying their hair and she was wearing a black dress with feathery and sparkly sleeves. She looked like an exquisite bird. She said, "I expect you to keep to your bed times tonight", and with a whisk of her dress around the corner, she was gone. No kisses on the foreheads and "I love you's". The girls either didn't notice the lack of love or didn't care, because then they got pretty hyper for dinner. I think they were taking advantage of the fact that their mom wasn't there so they thought they could act out more than normal....and I actually let them.
Tonight was the best because I sat at the head of the table in between the 2 girls where the mom normally sits, and I had a big mug of coffee (Starbucks via again) and just sat there like the mom does. W was quick to inform me that I can't put my elbows on the table. She showed me the proper way- by folding your hands and placing just your hands on the table. I should have guessed that. From where I could sit at the head, I had the best view: I could see the windows to my left in the dining room with the city lights shining through, but then I could see into the dark living room with it's massive windows wrapping around all the walls, and I could make out the city lights faintly through the curtains. I would love to have that view every night.
There was some pasta left over in the pot and Mercy asked if I wanted it. Have I mentioned that I love her? So I got to eat real food for dinner! M had cantaloupe for dessert which I snuck some pieces of, and W had squeezy yogurt, her favorite. I even got my own dessert. I had gotten a Greek yogurt with pomegranate seeds at 7-11, so I ate that for dessert. Then when M saw that she wanted a yogurt and W wanted another squeezy yogurt. Normally I would have said no to 2 desserts but they had been good that day and I was in particularly good mood since we were home alone.
When I got the spoons for the yogurt I got a generic spoon, a silver spoon that I would use in my kitchen. W said, "you can't use those! You have to use the nice silverware!" She pulled out the next drawer which was full of Tiffany's silverware. Yeah, they use Tiffany's silverware at dinner every night. Whomp. I asked how come I had to use those instead and she said, "Mom says they're more presentable". I just can't understand how it matters what's more presentable or not when there's no company over.
Mercy was a hoot because she saw a notice from M's school that M was going on a field trip tomorrow and that they needed to bring a bag lunch. Mercy was like, "Mrs. U didn't tell me about this! Do I need to do this?" She didn't know what to pack them and was freaking out about bringing the wrong things even though it just said they can't have candy or soda or peanuts. She made M a roll with butter and cheese on it. It was...cute looking. I was helping her to figure out what to pack and what to put it in because she was so frantic about it, which is really funny because normally she's so on top of everything!
The girls gave me a tough time about brushing their teeth but then it was smooth sailing. I read to W first like I always do while M read to Mercy in the other room. I put her down, knowing fully well that she would not be going to sleep any time soon. Then I got my half hour time to read Harry Potter with M. I checked up on W, was not sleeping, so I turned out her light at 8:00pm. Then I went into the nanny room where Mercy was ironing. She was sleeping there again since the parents were gone and she was still working. She's a slave horse.
I ended up staying in that room talking to Mercy for half an hour. It was the best. We talked about her kids and all her grandchildren, and the family she used to work for and how long she's worked for this family. I learned she's from the Philippines. She asked what I did and I told her I was an actress. She got all excited and said, "have you heard of Lea Salonga?" I told her my room mate did a show in Asia with her and that they were friends and that Lea is very nice. She was very excited about that. She told me the family she worked for previously to the U's, she was with for 9 years. She was with them from the time the boy was 6 months old to when he was 9 years old. She slept there every night and she was the one in charge of waking up in the middle of the night when the baby cried to feed him and rock him. She said she worked 24 hours there and didn't get paid as much as she does here. I can't imagine. She said the mom was very lazy and did nothing but would order Mercy to do everything.
I asked questions about the U's because I have no idea what the parents do. As soon as I brought up the parents, she started talking in a whisper as if it was top secret and we weren't supposed to know. She said that Mrs. U's parents bought them this apartment in NY. She said they own a school that has locations in Japan, Hawaii, Italy, and in the US. I suppose they are the main source of income for their family. Mrs. U, however, is the president of this school and she makes $2 million a year. Mercy was like, don't tell them you know this! I'm not supposed to talk about this. Mr. U owns his own real-estate business.
Mercy was going on too about their weekend house in Purchase and how amazing it is. She said it's 5x the size of their apartment here which I honestly cannot fathom. She said Mrs. U's bathroom there is incredible. I told her I thought her bathroom HERE was incredible! Mercy said, "oh, this is nothing. You would be amazed".
I kissed each girl on the forehead before I left and said "sweet dreams" and I said a warm goodnight to Mercy because now I feel much closer to her, and I crept out with a full heart.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
What's that big lump?
I know I said I wouldn't talk about my personal life, but I have to mention this...I went to that audition this morning that I mentioned I was going to. I got myself up at 6:00am and got there at 7:00am, only to find the door to the theatre locked. So I waited outside in the freeeezing cold for an hour and a half but was so proud of myself because I was 2nd in line!! I signed up 2nd on the non-union list, and at 10:10am they announced that non-unions needed to come back at 2:30pm.
Well crap. I have to pick up W at 2:00pm. There goes my whole morning.
So that's how my day started.
I was really surprised that today W was in a good mood to see me and she actually held my hand as we walked down the street! She didn't complain about not getting a snack from 7-11 today but that's probably because I told her we could get a snack at ballet. She always gets fruit snacks. The blue packet. The ballet studio didn't reek today, thank god. There was this adorable pudgy, blond girl shoving a vanilla cupcake into her mouth, her blue eyes wide as anything I've ever seen, and I couldn't help but grin. What is it about pudgy little girls in leotards and tights that is so cute?
After W's class she got her ritual fruit snacks and I got a bag of wheat thin crisps because I was starving. For the first time, W wanted to stay after and watch the adult class. The "adult" class was really a teenage class, consisting of 2 guys and 1 girl. W kept saying she liked the girl the best. I asked her if she wanted to keep doing ballet until she was as big as them and she said no. I asked her why and she said because she didn't want a boy teacher (the teacher was male). When I asked her if she would keep doing it if she had a girl teacher she said yes. There was a video of a ballet playing in the lobby and W seemed entranced by it, so I asked her if she would want to go to a ballet performance with me and she said yeah. That's my new mission.
I didn't mind staying after because I love watching other people in class and critiquing. Out of the blue, W says, "wait a minute, what's that lump?" referring to the male's bulge in his tights. I pretended that I didn't hear her because I did NOT want to have to explain that. Children say the darndest things....
Maybe my favorite moment of the day: W asked if she could have one of my crackers so I gave her one, and she offered me a fruit snack in exchange which was very generous of her. Then she liked it and wanted another, so we swapped snacks and stood and watched the ballet class, occasionally eating out of the others bag. I don't know why but it felt so comfortable and cute.
Finally, I said we needed to head home because it was getting late. We got a female taxi driver which I think I've had only once before. W leaned in and whispered, "I didn't know there were girl taxi drivers". I laughed out loud for a little while. Then the driver slammed on the brakes and I instinctively put my arm across W's lap. There was an old man standing in between the two lanes of traffic. The driver then mumbles, "stupid, stupid, stupid....old man, stupid driver". W and I got a few giggles out of that one. In the taxi, W said, "can you do me a favor? Can you eat all the blueberry ones?" (referring to her GRAPE fruit snacks). I said, "why? You don't like them?" and she shook her head. So I said "aaaalright" and did her a huge favor and ate all the grape ones :)
When we got home there was no one there...a rarity but a beautiful one. We started on her bead necklace right away which she was making for her mom. Then she wanted to get her watch which her mom had told her a few days prior was in her safe. So W leaves the room and comes back saying she needs help getting her watch. I was unaware that would entail going into her mom's closet, knocking off the papers from her vanity, and reaching high up to get to her safe which didn't even have a code to open it. I was so scared we were going to get caught so I tried to hurry up the process so we could get out of her closet. We didn't find the watch so I told her it was probably getting cleaned. I didn't find the watch but I did find tons of red Cartier boxes in her closet. *sigh* To be able to wear Cartier. There was also a box that was rotating with 2 mens watches and a woman's watch encrusted in diamonds that had a code to open it. My favorite thing of all was the other closet I opened that was racks and racks of sexy shoes. It looked like what Carrie's closet would look like. Just beautiful.
Then W showed me her Swarovski crystal jewelry box. Mm hmm. Swarovski. It was stunning and sparkled in the sunlight that was pouring through her windows.
I made another Starbucks via (I'm really liking it more and more) which made my 3rd coffee of the day. Before I knew it it was bath time and M came home just in time. We had our bath/hair drying routine and then dinner. My dinner was goldfish. Their dinner was asparagus tempura and meatballs with carrots, onions and mushrooms. Guh.
I didn't read to W tonight which was probably for the best because I would have fallen asleep. Instead, I helped M with her homework and listened to her read for 20 minutes, then read HP for 15 minutes instead of the normal 30. That's also for the best because I was nodding off again during the reading of HP. They both had on the cutest pj's tonight: glow-in-the-dark cupids!
Today was another amazingly good day (for the most part) with a lot of laughs involved.
Also, it was a good day because it was the first time I saw the dad make any effort to say hello to his daughters. He came into their room and they walked up to him and he rubbed the tops of their heads. Maybe that's the most affectionate they ever get. Anyway, it was an improvement from what I've seen.
I hugged the girls goodnight and will do it all again tomorrow...minus the waking up at 6am part.
Well crap. I have to pick up W at 2:00pm. There goes my whole morning.
So that's how my day started.
I was really surprised that today W was in a good mood to see me and she actually held my hand as we walked down the street! She didn't complain about not getting a snack from 7-11 today but that's probably because I told her we could get a snack at ballet. She always gets fruit snacks. The blue packet. The ballet studio didn't reek today, thank god. There was this adorable pudgy, blond girl shoving a vanilla cupcake into her mouth, her blue eyes wide as anything I've ever seen, and I couldn't help but grin. What is it about pudgy little girls in leotards and tights that is so cute?
After W's class she got her ritual fruit snacks and I got a bag of wheat thin crisps because I was starving. For the first time, W wanted to stay after and watch the adult class. The "adult" class was really a teenage class, consisting of 2 guys and 1 girl. W kept saying she liked the girl the best. I asked her if she wanted to keep doing ballet until she was as big as them and she said no. I asked her why and she said because she didn't want a boy teacher (the teacher was male). When I asked her if she would keep doing it if she had a girl teacher she said yes. There was a video of a ballet playing in the lobby and W seemed entranced by it, so I asked her if she would want to go to a ballet performance with me and she said yeah. That's my new mission.
I didn't mind staying after because I love watching other people in class and critiquing. Out of the blue, W says, "wait a minute, what's that lump?" referring to the male's bulge in his tights. I pretended that I didn't hear her because I did NOT want to have to explain that. Children say the darndest things....
Maybe my favorite moment of the day: W asked if she could have one of my crackers so I gave her one, and she offered me a fruit snack in exchange which was very generous of her. Then she liked it and wanted another, so we swapped snacks and stood and watched the ballet class, occasionally eating out of the others bag. I don't know why but it felt so comfortable and cute.
Finally, I said we needed to head home because it was getting late. We got a female taxi driver which I think I've had only once before. W leaned in and whispered, "I didn't know there were girl taxi drivers". I laughed out loud for a little while. Then the driver slammed on the brakes and I instinctively put my arm across W's lap. There was an old man standing in between the two lanes of traffic. The driver then mumbles, "stupid, stupid, stupid....old man, stupid driver". W and I got a few giggles out of that one. In the taxi, W said, "can you do me a favor? Can you eat all the blueberry ones?" (referring to her GRAPE fruit snacks). I said, "why? You don't like them?" and she shook her head. So I said "aaaalright" and did her a huge favor and ate all the grape ones :)
When we got home there was no one there...a rarity but a beautiful one. We started on her bead necklace right away which she was making for her mom. Then she wanted to get her watch which her mom had told her a few days prior was in her safe. So W leaves the room and comes back saying she needs help getting her watch. I was unaware that would entail going into her mom's closet, knocking off the papers from her vanity, and reaching high up to get to her safe which didn't even have a code to open it. I was so scared we were going to get caught so I tried to hurry up the process so we could get out of her closet. We didn't find the watch so I told her it was probably getting cleaned. I didn't find the watch but I did find tons of red Cartier boxes in her closet. *sigh* To be able to wear Cartier. There was also a box that was rotating with 2 mens watches and a woman's watch encrusted in diamonds that had a code to open it. My favorite thing of all was the other closet I opened that was racks and racks of sexy shoes. It looked like what Carrie's closet would look like. Just beautiful.
Then W showed me her Swarovski crystal jewelry box. Mm hmm. Swarovski. It was stunning and sparkled in the sunlight that was pouring through her windows.
I made another Starbucks via (I'm really liking it more and more) which made my 3rd coffee of the day. Before I knew it it was bath time and M came home just in time. We had our bath/hair drying routine and then dinner. My dinner was goldfish. Their dinner was asparagus tempura and meatballs with carrots, onions and mushrooms. Guh.
I didn't read to W tonight which was probably for the best because I would have fallen asleep. Instead, I helped M with her homework and listened to her read for 20 minutes, then read HP for 15 minutes instead of the normal 30. That's also for the best because I was nodding off again during the reading of HP. They both had on the cutest pj's tonight: glow-in-the-dark cupids!
Today was another amazingly good day (for the most part) with a lot of laughs involved.
Also, it was a good day because it was the first time I saw the dad make any effort to say hello to his daughters. He came into their room and they walked up to him and he rubbed the tops of their heads. Maybe that's the most affectionate they ever get. Anyway, it was an improvement from what I've seen.
I hugged the girls goodnight and will do it all again tomorrow...minus the waking up at 6am part.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Thank Heaven for 7-11
This is going to be a shorter entry (I know, you're like "thank god") because I'm waking up in 5 hours to go to an audition FINALLY!!! We're going to see how balancing auditions and picking up W from school on time works out. All I have to say is, it HAS to work out.
Today was another good day with them. I don't know how I keep getting good days with them but I think they're getting better. It was actually nice to see them today having not seen them for 3 days. I was worried about how this day was going to go because before I even left the house to pick up W I got a text from the mother saying...and I quote...."E, T will not come until next Wednesday. Pls make sure M does her homework and reading with u before bath. Bath has to be done by 6:00. They like playing in the bath tub but not more than 10 mins. See u later!"
Yikes.
I get W from school and she has that same expression on her face that she does every time she sees me at school that's a combination of, I was hoping it would be mom today but it's you, and, another day to do what? On our walk to 7-11 today a little girl screamed out her name and it was her friend who was walking a good ways behind us. The babysitter introduced herself and we found out we were all going to 7-11! I'm so glad I met another babysitter who's really nice and whom was a good distraction from the everyday routine of going to 7-11 and me getting annoyed at W wanting everything. They invited us over to their house to play for an hour and I was really excited at the thought of going somewhere other than home right away. I called the mother to ask but she didn't pick up, so homeward bound we were, but we discussed doing it on Thursday instead. The mother called me back while we were in the taxi and I asked her if we could get the girls together on Thursday after school and she said, "oh thank you, E, for making a play date with her!" and I wondered, was that something I was supposed to do all along? If so, I had no idea.
In the taxi, W asked me if I had a bully in my school. I told her about my kindergarten bully, Marqueesha, who used to suck on the tassels on my nap time mat and it drove me nuts and she knew it. I asked her if she had a bully in her class and she said yeah, and continued to tell me the bad things she does. She tugs on her jacket and throws her backpack in the hall, and I wanted to tell W to smack her in the face and tell her to leave her alone. I couldn't exactly say that, but I found myself having a really hard time explaining how to react to a bully and telling her what she should do. It felt like the perfect opportunity for me to really teach her a good life lesson and say something deep, but I was at a loss. I asked her if she told the teachers about her and she said, "yeah but they're always so busy". That made me really sad. I told her that this girl was doing these things because she wants a bad sort of attention and the best thing to do is to ignore her. I also told her to say, "I don't like when you do that, stop please" but then I thought that would make her seem like a wuss and would get her picked on more. Bullies are a tough category.
In the meanwhile, I just ordered 4 books on amazon about relationships between nannies and mothers. I'm really excited. Maybe one of those books will have some good insight on how to explain bullies to a 5 year-old.
W was really cooperative today and played with me very nicely. I am proud to announce that she put her clothes in her hamper without me even asking. I was so happy about that. She got a new jewelry making set with wooden beads so we spent some time organizing the beads into compartments by colors and shapes. If I had a suggestion she would say, "that's a good idea, E" or she would say, "I have an idea...". It was so fun playing with her today because she offered many good ideas and listened to mine.
So yeah, playtime was really nice, and then M came home. They drew together and were playing very nicely with each other which they normally do. W and I continued to make Valentine's day crafts from her crafts book. Today we made a friendship necklace which actually turned out pretty sweet. She gave the other half to M. I sort of wanted it. I have to say, I've been pretty proud of myself for being so crafty lately. Between the coloring books and the Valentine's Day crafts, I've been super duper.
Fast-forward to dinner: I was smart enough to get 2 mini bagels from a bagel shop before I picked up W and I brought an apple from home, so I actually had a "decent" dinner tonight. I sat in their room and cleaned up in between bites. When I did go check in on the girls at the dinner table, M and W were fighting over where I would sit. That was touching. I didn't really like their dinner tonight so there was nothing I wanted to pick at. Good thing for my apple and baby bagels!
I was so tired that I legit FELL ASLEEP while I was reading Harry Potter to M. My eyes were rolling back and I was slurring my speech and reading the wrong words. I honestly have no idea what I read. I was just reading sounds on the pages.
Back to normal....
Today was another good day with them. I don't know how I keep getting good days with them but I think they're getting better. It was actually nice to see them today having not seen them for 3 days. I was worried about how this day was going to go because before I even left the house to pick up W I got a text from the mother saying...and I quote...."E, T will not come until next Wednesday. Pls make sure M does her homework and reading with u before bath. Bath has to be done by 6:00. They like playing in the bath tub but not more than 10 mins. See u later!"
Yikes.
I get W from school and she has that same expression on her face that she does every time she sees me at school that's a combination of, I was hoping it would be mom today but it's you, and, another day to do what? On our walk to 7-11 today a little girl screamed out her name and it was her friend who was walking a good ways behind us. The babysitter introduced herself and we found out we were all going to 7-11! I'm so glad I met another babysitter who's really nice and whom was a good distraction from the everyday routine of going to 7-11 and me getting annoyed at W wanting everything. They invited us over to their house to play for an hour and I was really excited at the thought of going somewhere other than home right away. I called the mother to ask but she didn't pick up, so homeward bound we were, but we discussed doing it on Thursday instead. The mother called me back while we were in the taxi and I asked her if we could get the girls together on Thursday after school and she said, "oh thank you, E, for making a play date with her!" and I wondered, was that something I was supposed to do all along? If so, I had no idea.
In the taxi, W asked me if I had a bully in my school. I told her about my kindergarten bully, Marqueesha, who used to suck on the tassels on my nap time mat and it drove me nuts and she knew it. I asked her if she had a bully in her class and she said yeah, and continued to tell me the bad things she does. She tugs on her jacket and throws her backpack in the hall, and I wanted to tell W to smack her in the face and tell her to leave her alone. I couldn't exactly say that, but I found myself having a really hard time explaining how to react to a bully and telling her what she should do. It felt like the perfect opportunity for me to really teach her a good life lesson and say something deep, but I was at a loss. I asked her if she told the teachers about her and she said, "yeah but they're always so busy". That made me really sad. I told her that this girl was doing these things because she wants a bad sort of attention and the best thing to do is to ignore her. I also told her to say, "I don't like when you do that, stop please" but then I thought that would make her seem like a wuss and would get her picked on more. Bullies are a tough category.
In the meanwhile, I just ordered 4 books on amazon about relationships between nannies and mothers. I'm really excited. Maybe one of those books will have some good insight on how to explain bullies to a 5 year-old.
W was really cooperative today and played with me very nicely. I am proud to announce that she put her clothes in her hamper without me even asking. I was so happy about that. She got a new jewelry making set with wooden beads so we spent some time organizing the beads into compartments by colors and shapes. If I had a suggestion she would say, "that's a good idea, E" or she would say, "I have an idea...". It was so fun playing with her today because she offered many good ideas and listened to mine.
So yeah, playtime was really nice, and then M came home. They drew together and were playing very nicely with each other which they normally do. W and I continued to make Valentine's day crafts from her crafts book. Today we made a friendship necklace which actually turned out pretty sweet. She gave the other half to M. I sort of wanted it. I have to say, I've been pretty proud of myself for being so crafty lately. Between the coloring books and the Valentine's Day crafts, I've been super duper.
Fast-forward to dinner: I was smart enough to get 2 mini bagels from a bagel shop before I picked up W and I brought an apple from home, so I actually had a "decent" dinner tonight. I sat in their room and cleaned up in between bites. When I did go check in on the girls at the dinner table, M and W were fighting over where I would sit. That was touching. I didn't really like their dinner tonight so there was nothing I wanted to pick at. Good thing for my apple and baby bagels!
I was so tired that I legit FELL ASLEEP while I was reading Harry Potter to M. My eyes were rolling back and I was slurring my speech and reading the wrong words. I honestly have no idea what I read. I was just reading sounds on the pages.
Back to normal....
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