The Job

I figured more news about the job is long overdue, so here it comes.

Marie, the youngest, and I are both trying hard to figure each other out, and so far have established that we definitely like each other but sometimes have trouble communicating. Meaning, a lot of times she argues and refuses to do her homework and I have to be jerk-nanny. I've tried various techniques with her but have yet to find the perfect one. However, the more she gets to know me, the more comfortable she feels, the more she listens, and the more fun we have together.

The oldest girl, who I'll call Angela, is quite the opposite; very laid-back, a little shy and quiet at first. But she's so much fun! She randomly busts out in song, or shares totally out there ideas the very moment they pop into her head. Example... "I just thought of a good line. But it would have to be about a blind woman. Here it is, 'She lost her sight, but she still has vision.' Like, you could put that in the thingie that you write when a person dies. That would be a good thing to say about someone. Or, you could make it a song lyric."

Though Angela definitely gets annoyed, mostly she thinks her sister's dramatics are funny. The two of them sometimes remind me of one intenso young lady (me) and her laid-back older brother who laughed at her. Overall, they enjoy each other's company and very much like one another, but would never be caught saying that in public.

Interesting story from so far:

Marie left a book at school that she needed for homework, but the assignment wasn't due for two more days so I told her we'd just get the book the next day. She was upset about a lot of other things going on and took it out through an explosion of tears about how she HAD to go back and get this book and I was being SO unfair and mean and she was going to have A TON of homework the next day and to think of having to put this off until then, how could I do that to her? Talking about it now makes me laugh, but she has this way of saying things that grinds on me in the moment; I'm learning how to be more patient!

So anyway, she rolled her eyes at me and kept insulting me util I turned my meanie voice on. I told her she could be mad all she wanted but she could not disrespect me, and it honestly stopped her dead in her tracks. I don't think a nanny has ever said that to her before. She rolled her eyes, stomped back to the table and didn't speak to me for THIRTY MINUTES.

Thirty minutes! What the hell do you do as a nanny when your child of only two weeks DOESN'T SPEAK TO YOU? I tried various phrases, all the way from, "I'm sorry that the situation upset you so much, and we can talk about going back for your book, but only if you're ready to talk calmly about it," to "Marie, are you ready to talk?" to "Marie?" to "What number are you working on now?" Finally I accepted the silence but had no idea what to do. I waited 15 more minutes and then out of the blue, she asked me a question and the next few hours were the best we'd had yet.

An Angela highlight:

I was telling Angela about the bag I wanted to buy (the one I mentioned in my first post) and how it was sold out, and she told me about this website called etsy.com, where artists post all their work and buyers can buy directly from the artists through paypal or whatever. So she spent half an hour picking out all these awesome bags and made a wish list of ten of them, then the two of us spent another 20 minutes discussing and eliminating until I chose this awesome, green corduroy bag with a black alligator on the outside. The website is awesome, I love my bag, and I got paid for this entire experience.

So, I'm liking it a lot so far. Linda is very sweet to me, pays really well, and often expresses her appreciation of me and my work. She's a genuinely nice woman. And, I've befriended one of the other nannies! We had a wild night out this past weekend, and are planning a more chilled out night together soon. I have such a friend crush on her!

Overall, I'm very happy. I view the difficult parts as a project for me, and I'm challenging myself to take everything in stride instead of getting worked up or stressed out. I think that with time we will all have much easier days.

Or, at least, I hope so!