Kidspace Childcare: update

(by Pauline)
Ryden's self-help skills; Ryden loves to put away his shoes at Drop Off and when we come in from the outside. He will say, "mine" if I try to help him in any way. Ryden also likes to help put toys away where they go. Balls in the ball bin, books on the book shelf, etc.

In the classroom
Ryden likes to go to the kitchen area and dump all the food out of the basket, making sure there are no toys left in the baskets or shelves. He checks the fridge too, making sure he got everything... totally normal toddler behavior.

Interviewing for a new nanny

Well Doma was only able to give us one week's notice AND her connection for a Nepali nanny fell through. The woman has already found new work. :-( For some reason I was not shocked or devastated when she told me this. Maybe it was the way she delivers bad news, with this beautiful smile and so calmly. The more I got to know Doma the more I thought she epitomized the buddhist spirit. She takes everything in stride. So calm. But I did cry with bitterness when I closed the door behind her for the last time. We watched sadly as she walked up the street to catch her bus.

We did have a moment though, a good laugh together when the second woman, nanny, showed up for her interview . She was severely obese and I was worried that she was going to break the chair. After the calm and pleasant (yes, she was very nice) interview, I was again worried that she would not be able to get out of the chair. I don't mean or intend to discriminate, but there is no way I could feel safe about leaving my child with her. There were so many things that could go wrong. What if she had a heart attack or got stuck somewhere and my child was left to fend for himself. I don't care if there might be people around to help out. It is a huge risk. What if she fell and couldn't get up?! What if she lost her balance and fell forward onto Ryden. I'm not kidding. She could literally smother him, crush him. Who is she kidding?! Maybe with older kids it would be okay. Maybe. I was appalled at her condition. She did have really great references and experience, all the way back to 1986.

I also interviewed Noemi from Hungary earlier and she was pretty excited about Ryden and the nanny position. She really liked Ryden. They seemed to get along fine. Noemi will try us out babysitting on weds, thurs, and friday.

And I interviewed another woman today. Gabriela is from Switzerland. She was very organized and asked a lot of questions about medical insurance, accidents and coverage, taxes and whatnot. I don't know if I should take that as a precursor to how she interacts with kids too, but she did not say more than a few words to Ryden. I hope to see more connecting between them when she babysits for one day next Wednesday. Then I have to decide.

A Milestone of Mood Maturity

Ryden has been behaving so differently the last few days. He is really maturing. His voice tone is changing. He makes great eye contact. He has more subtle moods; shy, demur, flirting, friendly, eager, despondent.

I really believe that Sora-kun, his new Japanese friend (two and a half years old) is influencing him in a very good way. He is teaching Ryden to share and wait for things, to not cry as a way to communicate, but rather to try to use words and signing and eye contact.

I love Ryden so much I keep giving him little pecks on the cheek and worry that I might be smothering him with my love. I've been making more of an effort to be there for him, to get down on his level so he can see my face better.

Ryden has started playing make-believe. Last night we were at the restaurant Julia's having dinner with Kay and Peter. I brought over some dolls to the table and he started moving them around and pretending the dolls were talking to each other. It was so amusing to watch.

Sharing his binky

Ryden was so cranky yesterday. It was unbelievable. I know it was because he was very sick and probably had a pounding headache. I felt bad for Doma. Nothing she or I did would console him. Speaking of Doma, sad news for us.... she has gotten a full time position at the new Whole Foods opening downtown. I am so distraught by this change of events. I tried so hard to get her more work; nannying and even work at Quiznos down the street. She sort of flaked out on the interviews and following up. She had one gig babysitting for Eva, but alas they were uncomfortable with lack of English speaking skills. So I was unsuccessful. The frustrating thing is we passed up a full time opening at Kidspace childcare (where he attends on mondays and tuesdays) and also passed up the option to switch days so that Ry might enjoy their music teacher on thursdays. I'm happy for Doma but sad for us.

A few weeks ago Ryden did something very sweet. I was really upset one day about... about something silly basically and was sitting in the kitchen shedding some tears. Ryden for some special reason (feeling sick) had a binky in his mouth and he took it out and offered it to me. It was so obvious by the look on his face that he wanted me to suck on it and be consoled. Amazing that he thought of offering it to me.