School Days

Ah to be a child again. Hearty imaginations. Vast amounts of energy. And an inexplicable love for school.

Sierra just loves to go to school. So does Ryan. A couple weeks ago it was February vacation. That was fun. The first couple days went by smoothly enough. Playing all morning, rest time in the afternoon, a nice schedule. However, by Wednesday or Thursday, there were some serious cases of Cabin Fever going on. I was very thankful I'd thought ahead of time to sign the kids up for an activity at the library. It broke the week up nicely and gave them something to get them out of the house.

So Thursday morning, I bundled the kids up and we headed out. It was very cold, but the car warmed up quickly. The activity in question was a book reading and cookie decorating. When I had called the day before to sign the kids up, the librarian had warned me they had about 30 kids signed up already. I decided to get there nice and early to be sure of a parking spot. By about 10 minutes after my arrival, however, the library was swarming with at least 30, but probably closer to 40 or 45 kids, plus parents. What a zoo! I let Sierra and Ryan go off to find themselves some books while I took Eva over to the play area while waiting for the book reading so start. When 10:30 came around, they crowded all the kids into the tiny back room and sat them on the rug for story time. I held Eva on my lap. She was very fussy and I began to wonder why. It wasn't nap time, and she had eaten right before we'd come. I gave her her binky and she settled down. Then, about 5 minutes later, I realized why she had been so fussy. She wasn't feeling well. Evidenced when she got sick all over herself.
I was all the way at the front of the room, so I grabbed her up, and made my way to the back door, trying to keep all the other mothers from realizing I had a sick child.

Life Lesson #13: When a child is sick, the sickness will spread like wildfire to any other child within 200 ft.

Once in the bathroom I discovered, to my dismay, that the extra outfit in the diaper bag was actually just a sweater for Sierra. So much for that. Thankfully, Eva hadn't gotten sick very much, so I cleaned her up, washed the front of her shirt, and stood her under the hand dryer for a few minutes. She was obviously feeling much better and thought the warm air blowing all over her was quite exciting. I had by now come to the conclusion that the apple she had for breakfast had been on the wrong side of ripe, causing the stomach upset.
By the time I had her clean and dry, the story was done and the cookie decorating had begun. Eva of course wanted in on it, so we went back to the room where I found a table in the corner for them to sit at.
The rest of the morning progressed as planned and we headed home around 11:30 or so.

The rest of the day, as well, progressed very fine. By Friday, however, Sierra was whining about how much she missed school.
I'm so thankful Summer vacation happens during the Summer, when it's warm outside. :P

Life Lesson #31: Kids like playing where they can run and yell and get out their energy.

Naptime

When your kids are sick, everyone has a bad day. Whether it be full blown flu, or simply a slight cold, sickness keeps kids from the one thing they need most of all. Sleep.

Life Lesson #35: A tired baby makes life miserable for all around her.

So when I got to the house on Friday morning to find my baby coughing and sneezing, I already knew it would be a longer day than normal. Sure enough, by nine o'clock Eva was already ready for a nap. She slept... kinda. For about 20 minutes. By noontime she was once more a little grouch and down she went again.
Usually, for her afternoon nap, she will sleep for close to two hours. Today, however, she was up again by one. Her nap had proved quite medicinal for her and she was her normal bubbly, happy self.
I was not pleased. Not that she was happy... that part was great. But I knew that if she didn't get her afternoon nap, she'd be a monster by evening. For awhile I tried to get her back down, but my efforts to keep the binky in her mouth turned into her idea of a fun game. I finally gave up and let her just sit there babbling to herself. Eventually I did get her up, and since it was drawing close to three (which is the time Sierra and Ryan would arrive home from school and 'playtime' would begin) I began to engage her in some very active play, with the goal of wearing her out in mind.
It worked. She fell asleep again at about a quarter of three and when the other kids got home I was successful in getting them to play by themselves in the other room.
Eva slept for over an hour and awoke quite refreshed and happy.
If only every afternoon nap-time adventure ended so well. :P

To Be A Mom

I am a nanny, I am not a mom. I am a nanny, I am not a mom. I am a nanny, I am not a mom.
Seems no matter how often I say that, the fact of the matter is this: I am raising those kids just as much as their mom is.
Plus the fact that Eva is firmly convinced that she has two moms. One is called Mama, and the other is called Nicki.
It's a hard job to be a mom to kids without actually being a mom. Raising them, without having the final say in how their raised. Disciplining them without being able to put your own limits on discipline. And even when you can discipline in your own way, if the parents aren't doing it the same way, you have to start all over again after each weekend.

Life Lesson #4: Kids do not respond well to inconsistent discipline.

Now, of course, there are many things that are vastly different between being a mother and being a nanny. Most obvious would be the fact that mothers don't get paid. Also, mother's do not get to leave every evening and weekend.
On the other hand, I don't exactly love walking out the door each evening watching Eva toddle after me in tears, arms outstretched, heartbroken that I have to leave once again. And I get excited each Tuesday morning when I'm on my way to work, knowing that the kids wait for me and will greet me gleefully, so happy that I've returned to spend time with them.

Being a nanny is not an easy job. It's rewarding, sure, but it sometimes feels a bit wasted. After pouring years of my life into these kid's lives, one day, I'll say goodbye for the last time, and walk out of their lives. Even if we stay in touch, it'll be more of a holiday relationship; A birthday card here and there and maybe a vague memory of "oh yeah, she used to play with us."

But..... I still love my job. :)

Mutual Agreement

Kids fight. If you don't believe me, you've obviously not spent much time around kids. If you have more than one child under your care, whether you're a nanny, a parent, or just someone who has ever taken care of kids, you will undoubtedly run into nasty disagreements. Otherwise known as arguments.
When I was a kid, growing up with five siblings, we often tried to get away with disagreements by calling them 'debates'. We thought that perhaps a more intelligent sounding name would make up for the nastiness of our fights. Not so. In fact, I think it just served to exasperate my mother more.
Cries of "I'm telling!" and "He started it!" often rang out and the thing we hated most from our mother was for her to say, "I'm not your referee; figure it out on your own." We hated this most because we thought that we'd come to the point where there was no figuring it out on our own. The other person was not to be reasoned with and we needed intervention.
Looking back, I think she was right. In fact, it was only last week that I heard myself saying to Sierra, as she ran to me with cries about her brother's non-sharing habits, "Go back and figure it out with Ryan."

Life Lesson #8: Kids can solve problems without the presence of a referee.

She pouted, and I was reminded of myself.
So what's right? When is it time for me to tell them to figure it out, and when is it time for me to step in?
Obviously, when physical harm is involved, it's time for an authority to take over and mete out punishment. Most times, however, I find that the situation will diffuse on it's own, if the kids are left to themselves. In fact, when Sierra or Ryan have friends over, I prefer to not even be with them. They play so much nicer together when I'm not in the room. Why? Because they're learning to figure it out for themselves. One day they'll appreciate it.

Winter Show

Today was Sierra's first grade winter show at school. It happened to be in the afternoon, and on the same day of the week that Ryan goes to preschool. He goes two afternoons a week.
Upon hearing it was in the afternoon, he became distraught at the thought of missing it. Many tears were shed before deciding he would just be pulled out of his class for the 45 minute show.
The morning wore away, and soon it was time to pack up the two youngest to take Ryan off to class. Eva was happily bundled up to her teeth, and Ryan donned his coat and gloves.

Life Lesson #12: Gloves can not be put on a preschooler in a rush.

We headed out to door and made the ten minute trek to school. By the time we got there, Eva was conked out in the back seat. The thought of just leaving her in the car flashed through my brain but I am happy to say it flashed out again faster than it had flashed in. Toting a sleeping 19 month old through the halls of school, while trying to hang on to an excited four year old is not an easy feat to accomplish.
By the time we had that done, I realized there were a couple things I'd left at the house that I really should have before returning to the school for the one thirty show. I raced back to the house, left the sleeping baby in her car-seat in the garage while I ran upstairs to grab an extra bottle and the diaper bag, then it was back to the school to get a good seat in the gymnasium before the show. Mama arrived in time, and went down to Ryan's class to fetch him. He, however, had decided it was not in his best interest to leave class just then, seeing as snack time had been about to commence, and so his mood was less than happy.
Very soon, Sierra's class filed in, along with sixty-leven hundred other kids, and Ryan's mood brightened. Plus, several of the songs sung were familiar to him. Eva was, by now, awake, and she happily clapped in time to the music.
The show was soon over, Ryan was deposited back in his class in time for snack, and Sierra and I tried to figure out what to do.
She had been let out early; as soon as her show was over. It was only forty-five minutes until Ryan was out of class, and we didn't want to go back home. So we hung out in the hallway and read books and tried to keep Eva from hiding in the stairwell and climbing the stairs.

Life Lesson #48: Toddlers like to climb.

The afternoon and evening wore on. I worked late today, since Mama and Dad were going out to a Christmas party. This, of course, called for pizza, a movie, and popcorn. Ryan refused to fall asleep without Mama present, but Eva and Sierra had no such compunctions and fell asleep on either side of me. Happiness is feeling the warmth of two small bodies snuggled against you. <3

Life of a Nanny

To be a nanny is something hard to describe, hard to sum up, if one has never been a nanny. It's a babysitter, yet much more. It's a mother, yet not quite. It's a life, more than a job. It's a job that starts as just that; a job. Over time, however, it becomes so much a part of you that the very thought of leaving is hard to imagine happily. If you happen to be blessed to get a good nanny job.
I am.
I watch three kids. I have been watching them for three years now. Sierra is nearly seven, Ryan is four, and Eva is drawing close to two years old. These aren't their real names, which I won't reveal here in respect to the families wishes.
First posts are always weird. This one is no exception. But oh well. Thus the purpose of the blog has been stated. Nothing further will be stated, except to say that I will be posting happenings and thoughts on being a nanny here. And so begins a new blog.