Nanny Diary

Friday's afternoon nap reminds me to exhale. Mondays as a nanny to 2 infants are filled with crawling around in the floor, playing peek a boo, dancing to the Beatles, and lots of tickle monster. Fridays feel more like lots of poopy diapers, picky eaters, and pulling hair. Nannying is at once incredibly rewarding and completely exhausting; sometimes more one than the other, depending on about a zillion different factors. We are, after all, 3 females stuck together for 55 hours per week. We love each other, and sometimes we drive each other to tears. My inability to understand what they want and need sometimes is, I'm sure, as frustrating to them as their seemingly unprovoked fits of crying are to me. It's all give and take and trial by error with these teeny people. They are the most important job I have ever had, and every day with them has eternal potential. How I interact with them and respond to their needs literally helps shape their little minds and hearts for the rest of their lives. It's easy to be patient when we're all getting along, of course. But, the days when Riley won't stop hollering in Molly's face, Molly doesn't want to eat anything but Puffs and throws peas and pears all over the floor, and both of them spend a great deal of time tugging at my ankles, fussing while I try to get bottles ready, those days are a challenge. It seems like those days are usually Fridays. Or maybe I'm just more acutely in touch with my own weakness after 4 days. Ha! But, then, there are moments when the Famous Footwear commercial comes on in the next room and Molly starts shaking her little butt and waving her little arms around as she dances to the electro-groove. And the moment when, after days and days of practice, Riley knows where her nose is. Those moments are pretty cool. Those moments and those little smiles make the fussing and the stealing sippy cups and the pulling hair just a little more bearable.

Today is Friday and I couldn't be more ready to have margaritas at my favorite happy hour downtown in just a few hours, but I still have a little bit more time and a little bit more dancing to do with my girls. So, cue music...