Nannying - the joys :)

My main job this summer is to be a part-time nanny for two boys. I was hoping to get a "real" job at a restaurant or retail store, but this is what God has provided for me and I am very thankful for it :) The family is related to a friend of a high school teacher of mine - so that's how I heard about the opportunity.

The two boys are Brian and Christopher. Brian will turn six next month, and Christopher just turned 2 last month (Christopher is above, Brian is in the picture riding his bike).

I babysat one evening in May as a trial run of sorts, but I really started my job on June 1st. The first week, I worked during the mornings and only had Christopher because Brian was at a tennis camp. Christopher and I had our schedule down pat :D He and his dad would pick me up from the train station at about 9:00, and then he and I would play with his yellow truck out front, look at the flowers, and walk along the rock pathway counting the rocks. Sometimes I would push Christopher in his tricycle. After a while, we would go to the park not too far from their house. The first day, all Christopher was really willing to do was go up the regular steps and walk around on the playground. By Friday, he was climbing up just about every way to climb up, going down the slide by himself, and swinging in all the swings :) We would play for a couple hours, then go back to the house and eat lunch, look at a couple of books, and then he would go down for his nap.

Even though Christopher just turned two, he is very smart! He knows the ABC song pretty well, can count up to about 7 (though he often says "one, two, four, five..."), is fairly good at identifying colors and shapes, knows what and where all his facial features are, knows lots of words, and is almost potty trained! Both boys go to a Montessori school, and I think that is where Christopher gets most of his training.

These second two weeks I have gone in the afternoons and have had both boys. I get there at about 12:30, feed the boys lunch, and put Christopher down for his nap. Then Brian and I usually do play dough, play with his pirate ship, he gets dressed up in costumes, and sometimes we look at books. I also take Brian to his swim lessons, and last week I took him to Ride and Glide (a bike camp at the YMCA). Sometimes the boys and I go to Barnes and Noble and look at books there.

Christopher is super cute, and thankfully he and I hit it off pretty well :) I taught him my name on Thursday or so of the first week, and he's always excited to see me when they pick me up from the train station :D I was going to put in some of the cute things he's done, especially the first week, but I feel like I've already forgotten some of them :(

One is that he says "Peek-a-bo, I see you" in the cutest voice! He also says "I've gotchyou, I've gotchyou" any time he's feeling nervous/scared/uncomfortable. He has the biggest blue eyes - lots of people comment on them when they see him. And he can say "yes!" or "okay" in the cutest voice possible if he wants to do something you're suggesting. Also, he always notices what is on my shirt! I wore two different horse shirts two days in a row, and so now he keeps asking for horses when he sees me :)

His dad told me this funny story - evidently the mom has the same kind of tennis shoes that I do. So one day she was squatting down talking to Christopher and he looked at her shoes and said "Esther's shoes!" So that shows you that he is a *very* observant young fellow! :D

Brian and I get along pretty well too....we had more of a rough start, but that's rather understandable since he's six and thus has stronger opinions! I think we have come to a fairly good understanding, but we still have a couple tough spots once in a while. I can't really think of anything cute or funny he's done yet...oh well.

I'm only going to blog about the positive/fun things that happen.......but believe me, that doesn't mean that's the whole story. These boys are, of course, human just like all the rest of us. But I just try to focus on the positive and love on them a lot.

a messed up morning..........

So I'm house sitting for the next few days...and this morning I was going to ride the bus/train/bus to get back to my house after spending the night at the other house. It was all going to work out very well, because I wouldn't have to wait very long at any of my transfer points! Well, it did not end up working out like that. At all.

I left the house plenty early because I didn't know how long it was going to take me to walk to the bus stop. It only took me 10 minutes to walk the .4 miles, so I had 12 minutes to spare! I went to a Starbucks on the corner and got a parfait, then went back to the bus stop and ate it. I could see the bus on the other side of the intersection. After a few minutes, I realized that the bus was just sitting there with its hazard lights going! I was pretty confused...I waited for a while, until the pick up time had passed, and the bus was still just sitting there.

I was getting worried, because I only had one minute to spare between my bus arrival and the train departing. Looking back on this, I wasn't thinking very straight at all!!!!! I decided to walk to the train station since the bus wasn't seeming to come. Well, I did. It was spitting rain. At one point the bus zoomed past me. To make a long story short, it was a little over two miles to the train station. A couple times I ran because I didn't know how far it was and I was still hoping to make my train. That was a crazy hope.

I missed two or three trains as I walked to the station (it took me 24 minutes), so when I finally got there I had just missed one and had to wait 15 minutes for the next one. I finally got on the train and rode down to the station closest to my house. Took a bus that got me a little ways toward my house, then had to walk another .6 miles.

All in all, thanks to my impatience and not being rational, a trip that was supposed to take one hour took two. The end.

why I will (not) miss Nathan

Nathan, my (not little) younger brother leaves for USAFA (the United States Air Force Academy) on June 23rd. When he does, he will just about fall off the face of the earth for the next four years. The below story is an example of why I will (and will not) miss him a TON.

Sunday afternoon my upper back was really sore (it's a long story but includes a car accident over 5 months ago and lifting a 2-year-old) and I was lying on my floor in pain...

My dad was asking Nathan and me if we had any expectations for the afternoon. I said something like "no, but I do expect Nathan to go heat up my heat pad for me!" (as in 'hint hint'!)

Nathan responds "Oh, that's a bad expectation to have!" He then tries to convince me that I'm closer to where my heat pad is so I should do it. I retort that I am more comfortable lying on the floor than he is standing up, so he should do it. He responds "but I don't know where it is and I don't know how to do it!" So I tell him where it is, but he's still acting like he won't do anything about it....he wants me to tell him every move to make. So I tell him "open the drawer" and he does, "pull out the heat pad" and he does, "shut the drawer" and he protests that's not a necessary step.

He almost tosses it to me and I'm like "but it's not hot yet!" So I tell him to go heat it in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. And the rascal acts like he doesn't know how to use the microwave - like I'll have to tell him every move to make out there. So I say "it's one step! You go out to the microwave, open the door, put the heat pad in, turn it on..." As I said that, I counted on my fingers without thinking! Nathan caught me, of course. "That's not one step, you're counting on your fingers!" and then he mimics me, sending me into peals of laughter :D

So he went out to do it, acting as if he was going to come back in to get a new instruction every time. I heard the microwave go off, and then he came back with his hands behind his back and was like "ok, what next?" And I said "hand me the hot pad!" because I am smart and I knew he had it behind his back even though he was trying to trick me into thinking it was still in the kitchen :D

So that's what my crazy brother and I do to amuse ourselves :)

well well...what have we here?

My poor little blog...I have just rediscovered you! I'm sorry I've been so neglectful for so long....I'm afraid it's because of a strange phenomenon called LIFE - and COLLEGE. Also, I feel like no one really reads what I write here....so I feel like there's no point in posting! But maybe if I get in the habit a little more this summer...maybe, just maybe I shall be more consistent.

So what I'm not going to try to do is give a daily report of the last seven months - or to give a daily report from here on out!

That was all written last night...and guess what? I got distracted talking to two of my good friends on Facebook :D So a blog update got put off once again......