The Nanny Diaries… Today

So today began my first day nannying my "new" little girl, to be further known to you as Little M.  3.5 years old, smart, precocious, imaginative and very articulate, she quickly reminded me why I do so well with infants.  I guess it's possible to argue that I prefer infants since I'm most experienced with them, but I also think the fact that they're very routine-oriented, testing "limits" that are much within your own, and just easier to manage.  Harder to figure out, yes sometimes, but for that I have a gift.  It's the little one-sided-cute kiddos you have to worry about.  The little girls who tell you they love pink and love to watch Princess movies... no sooner than to turn and throw a tantrum or ask about the 12875341st question of the hour.  It's the little boys who smile and say "please" and "thank you," before they decide they're going to bulldoze you, make you watch Cars for the 80th time, or hit their little brother.  I miss my 6 month old!!

Don't get me wrong, Little M is a complete doll baby who loves Disney Princesses and nail polish and Fancy Nancy.  But how many times in the course of one day is it possible to play house, how far past 82 times can the same question be asked, and how persistently adamant can one be in telling the new sitter that no, Mommy does not enforce naptime.  

My meager energy is no force for the family cats, let alone the obese, unruly golden retriever or (dah dah dah dahhhh) the most intelligent, imaginative little girl you'll ever see.

The only break I got today was during Kindermusik when I got nearly 1.5 hours to sit on the floor and pretend to be watching excitedly while I exhaustedly sent a few emails off my phone and stared shocked at the composure of the instructor and the persistence of the little girl who wanted her Mommy.  I could have been asleep in the car or something but here's how it went down...  On the way, Little M assured me that she was a big girl and I wasn't going to stay with her.  That was fine by me, but plans changed when she saw that Kindermusik was in the basement of a dark, older church.  She kind of panicked and froze.  Long story short, she begged me to not leave her, so I was the only one out of 4 nannies and 2 mommies to join their itty bitty with "Miss Cheryl" for class.  At first I was scared since Little M - normally outgoing and friendly - decided to plant herself in my lap and refused to sing any of the songs or perform any of the motions.  After awhile though, my wonderful singing and dancing (the banana dance, of course!) must have been so inspiring because Miss Cheryl was finally able to persuade her to join the rest of the class.  :)  This week's course is Theatre Class, and today was Outer Space day.  It was crazy at times with 1 kid  crying for Mommy half the time, another kid literally screaming "MOMMMM-EEEEEEEEEEEE!!" every 5 seconds and running to the door to pound on it, and the little girl who was convinced she was the boss.  Then there was my Little M and the smartest, sassiest little boy I've ever seen in my life, plus a well-behaved little girl.  Things got bad when the MOMMMMEEEEE girl pulled off part of the wall onto the Mommy-crying-boy, but they pulled it off so fast I didn't even see it coming so I definitely don't cite the instructor for that one!  I was actually shocked how she was able to keep the class going for the whole 1.5 hours and how patient she was with all of the kids - especially the ones who were driving me insane!

So that was Kindermusik.  Then home for naptime.  (Because thankfully Mom verified that no, Little M DOES take naps!)  Then more wild and crazy times until it was finally 5:00 and I was able to go home.... but just for long enough to meet Jonathan before going to my other new family's home to watch their 7 month old little boy while they went to baptism class.  While we were watching He's Just Not That Into You, Baby Blue slept soundly in his crib, just waking up one time.  While I was having a too-good-to-be-true night of babysitting, apparently Dad backed the Pilot into my car.  Not even kidding!!  (Now that I think about it, I'm kind of glad I drove and not Jonathan!)  So of course, we ended up leaving late, but I was definitely happy that this family is a family of means so Dad was able to give me his insurance info with the instructions of "Don't even call yours - we'll handle it.  I've already called mine and told them about it."  Nice.  So other than a tiny bit of drama, I honestly don't care that he ran into my car causing me to need a new back bumper.

So that's my day in a nutshell.  After I went all the way to Cleveland and back (early this AM) for labwork in preps for tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be exhausting, and I'm exhausted.  No surprise though.  Just another day in the life of me!  And here's to hoping Little M's mommy either becomes less spoiling and obsessively paranoid or has more children because either way would sure would make my job just a tiny bit easier.  ;-)