It's been a week since I started my nannying job, and I'd say my love for it is approximately 200% greater than my job at Logos. For one thing, it's awesomely disorienting. I've got a permanent car seat behind me when I drive, which is weird. Mrs. Nannied told me I could stow it away during my hot weekend dates, and I smiled politely.
Anju and Ketan are pretty awesome, though. They're in grade school, so I can tell them to do something like shower and not have to help them. They tried to push their luck early in the week ("Mom lets us eat candy whenever we want!" "No, seriously, we're allowed to use the Internet anytime.") But I didn't fall for that, even when they teared up and said I was mean. "Yeah, I am mean. So stop crying."
I'm going to be such an awesome mom.
Around Tuesday, Mrs. Nannied asked me to make up a point system. That seemed like ridiculous Pinterest-level involvement, and I sulked until I asked Ketan and Anju if they wanted to be nicknamed Hogwarts houses. Now I can say, "Your bed was made. One point to Gryffindor! Don't talk back to me. Five points from Slytherin."
Mostly the two are really awesome. Kids are hilarious in this unassuming way where adults are usually self-conscious. Anju was doing her homework while Ketan was in piano lessons, and she couldn't get her worksheet to lay flat. "Would you please move your whole self?" she asked. I burst out laughing, "My whole self? You want me to move my whole self and just fall on the floor over here?" She grinned up at me and nodded. "No, I'm not moving my whole self. You move your whole self."
And Ketan loves Harry Potter. We found out we've both been to Harry Potter World, and I started to tell him how excited I was to buy a freaking chocolate frog, but then he pulled out a legit Slytherin robe and Sirius's wand, and a specially made wand just for Ketan. I've never been so jealous of a 4th grader in my whole life. But it's okay, because the two nights I've put them to bed involved an epic wand duel, once when I hid in a doorway so that when Ketan jumped out I wasn't there. "Expelliarmus!" I shouted and leaped out at him. He fell on the floor, laughing in terror.
It's pretty great, is what I'm saying.
HOLD EVERYTHING!!! You're a nanny?!?!? When in the world did this happen? I mean, obviously, a week ago, but I was uninformed of this, and I thought we were clear that I was to be informed of every big event in your life before said event was decided. Or something like that. Or maybe nothing like that at all. But you don't even LIKE kids (disclaimer: my kids and Ruthie are exempt from this statement)! Well, I'm really excited for you and this new turn of events. I'm even more excited that you get to play Harry Potter with your kids. I'm sure it's comparable to playing sleep over and dogs in the mud. :)
ReplyDeleteWhoops. A couple posts ago I mentioned that I was quitting Logos, but I guess I didn't say that I was looking into nannying (which is the job of choice for most of the DTS students I talked to).
DeleteSo, yeah. I'm a nanny! 15-20 hours a week, picking them up from school until their parents come home from work. Next big decision, I will definitely tell you, Jennie, before it even happens. :)
Also, with kids. I'm starting to learn that while I don't like kids the way most women do (cooing and fawning), I love kids like I love friends. When kids are awesome, I adore them, and I enjoy spending time with them, and let's face it, I'm largely a kid at heart.
Here's a big decision thing for ya: I've been wondering if my counseling future will have something to do with kids--play therapy or dealing with kids and trauma, maybe something to do with sex trafficking internationally? I DON'T KNOW. But I'm wondering if God keeps putting me with kids (children's librarian, your kids, etc) for a reason. We'll see. But yeah, I think it's fair to say I like kids when they are awesome, and a lot of kids are awesome, so I like a lot of kids.