We hired a new nanny. Who exceeds my every expectation. At least in theory. What I love about her--and what I now realize I wanted in a nanny--
She is mature and 'gets' that when she cares for Cate-she carries everything I care about in her hands. I just know in my twenties-before I was a mother-I had no idea just what children mean to their parents. How they would die for them. So, I wanted a mother or someone with younger siblings.
She will bring her 11 month old son with her. Which means we can pay her less-and Cate gets socialization without the germs of daycare/dayschool.
She parents like I do. Before us, she nannied for three boys-all under the age of five. And she is one of seventeen children-and cared for a younger brother with Autism. i.e. she gets stress and can handle it. A few of the other nannies we interviewed were nervous. One got up and *ran* across the room when she saw Cate crawling away. Our main level is childproofed-and open. If I am watching Cate roam I am okay with her exploring. But that is just kind of an example-maybe she wanted to show us that she was a good nanny. It was more of just a general nervousness.
She is the kind of mother-like me-she lets her child fuss when he refuses sleep. Our nanny can't do that-which I get--it.is.so.hard. But to me-sleep matters more than the pain of a bit of a fuss. She doesn't make a big deal of a scraped knee. If I see Cate about to injure herself--I, of course, save her. But if she lightly bumps her head-I don't make a big deal out of it-if she wants to hold onto unsteady objects-then she is going to get bumped. I once watched her have a temper tantrum because she didn't want to sleep and bang her arms on the side of the crib. I didn't go stop her-and she hasn't done it again.
She knows more about child development than I do. I asked her what she fed her son and she said that he is on table food. I had no idea that that was appropriate at this age. She said that this age is about movement and shapes. Who knew?
She gets that a part of her job is to do a bit of housekeeping if the kids are asleep.
Her references-10 years worth-had only compliment upon compliment to say about her. One said "she made me a better parent."
Her name? Annalisa. Cate's middle name. Which means "graced by God's bounty." Which, at least it seems at the moment, is what's happened again.
I thought, too, that maybe you were pg. My breath caught! Are you trying to KILL me????
BUT a good nanny is also nice! :)
Posted by: JessPond | July 16, 2009 at 00:45
Clearly it was meant to be ;)
I'm glad you've found someone honey!
xxx
Posted by: SCY | July 14, 2009 at 15:01
Wow! So cool that you have found a keeper! She sounds like a gem.
Posted by: Kate (Bee In The Bonnet) | July 14, 2009 at 14:20
I thought the same thing!
But finding a great nanny is exciting, too!
Posted by: Photogrl | July 13, 2009 at 20:44
OK, I saw the title of this post and thought maybe for a second you hit the jackpot again and were pregnant.
Sigh. Don't lead me on like that!
Glad you found a great nanny!
Posted by: My Reality | July 13, 2009 at 19:01