2/22/11

#1 funny.. Maybe you had to be there?

Listening to Pandora @ lunch time w. the girls.  They requested The Beatles station, because.. even they will tell you.. they loooove The Beatles.  The Who- Behind Blue Eyes, came onto the station.  First thing the girls say is HEY this is NOT the Beatles..  they listen closely..

%% no one knows what its liiiiike to be the bad man%%

they whip around to look at each other and simultaneously shout

"TO BE THE BATMAN!!!???"

Loved. It.


#2 cute.. Kids say the darnedest things.

my favorite quotes of the day usually occur when the girls are playing alone, or together, and do not think I am listening/ can hear them.  Today, M & A were busy at play with their new action figures.  M has a new, small Iron man that comes w. an awesome little car he rides.  She decided he needed a theme song.. so she begins singing:

"Iron man, Iron man.. does whatever an Iron man can.
Shoots his lasers up in the... sky?
.. zooms up high.. just like a fly.
Look ooouuut here comes the Iron maaannn"
((COUGH- Spider man theme song rip off-COUGH))

A:  Wow M, that was really great.  I like his new theme song.
M:  Thanks, I know.  I think were going to be famous!!!

I need a video camera implanted into my body.  If I could record the unsuspecting funny moments, being a nanny would just be a part time job... along w. my many book signings and comic hours based off this GOLD provided by my genius kids I work with- people ate up AFV for years (still are, I think??)

This stuff = WAY BETTER!!!

stories of the best kind.

So.. I have forgotten all about writing on my blog.  I don't feel like I have many things I want to write down these days... except.. awesome little stories and one liners from the kids I work with.  I realize this has been the majority of my blog thus far- so I think I will make it just that.  Stories of the best kind; real and uncut ideas/ actions from the fabulous, sensational, outrageously awesome.. our youth!

Here is one story from last week (2/18/11)

The girls M & A were having a play date w. our friend E.  Shes a good friend, around the same age (just turned 5).  She is more of a girlie-girl then M & A, which can make picking a game difficult at times
(( we want to play superheros!!   'I want to be a princess!!' ))

This particular day was great- everyone was getting along, sharing ideas and enjoying themselves.
They decided to turn the den into a spooky haunted house.

-'A' was at the entrance of their scary masterpiece.  She held a pirates sword and was acting as a 'machine pirate' (she called herself) swinging a sword back and forth at the door.  This made it difficult to enter- she said it was to make people nervous to come into the haunted house.  I acted accordingly as I entered..

-M was sitting in a dark corner talking into the hole of a broken globe.  This made, surprisingly, a creepy, echoing, man-sounding voice.  She was pretending to be "Zachariah Ebenezer", warning any intruders off the property of the haunted house.  You can hear M, but not really see her, which was quite perfect for her role, I thought.  She was giving instructions to 'beat up the pooh' (there was a giant stuffed pooh bear in the middle of the floor I had to defeat before I could move to the next step of the haunted house.)  Really awesome, and really funny.. haha 'beat up the pooh'... Ha!

After I beat up the poo(h), I was pounced on by E who had been patiently waiting on the steps that lead from the upstairs down into the den.  She was a werewolf, screaming and thrashing and shaking her head every which way.  All in all I was very impressed!

I had carried a video camera through so they could see from my view, their rocking haunted house.  The girls, were not as impressed as I was- they were excited about it, but thought it could be better.  They did not want me knowing the new things they were going to put into the haunted house, so they kicked me out of the den and slammed the door shut for privacy.  As soon as the door shuts, I hear a yelp and then cries.  E had slammed the door, which had knocked over a set of boards that rest behind said door- as she turned to help plan.. the boards fell onto her poor little face :(  She got a scratch on her lip :(

Sooo, in I swoop - -

me: "oh its okay E, its not so bad.  We can clean that right up.. no big deal.  Lets get some ice.." blah, blah blah..

Hugs, check. Ice, check. Words of encouragement, check.  After a few minutes of tending to E's bloody lip, she was still teary-eyed and bummed out she was hurt.  In charges 'A'...

A: "E!!! This is GREAT!!"
Me & E : um.. what?
A: Yeah! This is so good, you didn't even know how good it was!  In a haunted house things are scary, and dark and disgusting.. like, like.. BLOODY!!! and you're bloody!  Good job, E!!"
E: oh.. ya!  Hey (asking me) how does it look now?
me: better.
E: Oh... maybe I can scrape something else up now.. we need more blood!

wow.  'A' the superhero, comes to the rescue!


(Ending note- E did not scratch anything else for the 'bloody effect' they were trying to achieve.  Instead, they found a stack of red post-its and decided to rip & toss them all over the room.  Awesome.)

talking into the nanny cam

It has come to my attention that people in my profession are considered "the help".  This has been something I have tried for a long time now to ignore.  I have been fortunate enough not to have experienced this first hand, really.  The families I have been lucky to become a part of have treated me just as so, family.. my current and newest family included.  Remembering back to a time, working in a daycare, a passing parent made a comment to another parent about my particular classroom and the ages of the children in it.  They chatted about the ages of the children and how based on their ages, they were not really in "school".  Along with that came how the teachers within the room were simply there to care for their children.. "glorified babysitters" is a term I have heard before.  That was, well... shitty.  So, take that experience and place the "glorified babysitter" in your home, at your beckon call.  Available 24/7 if you wish, the new Mommy or Daddy.. at your service- yes, "the help".  We do not need or want to be treated like it though!  Not by you, and especially not by your children. 


I think this may somewhat be stirring from a recent play date where a friend of M&A referred to me as "the nanny" instead of asking me my name again or anything remotely polite.  "Hey M get your nanny to make us some cookies"  M ignored her.  Good girl, M.  There was more, but I do not want to become too heated about this, plus I do not want to take it out on the little friend.  Come to find out, she had once had a nanny of her own.  Grrreeeat.  This was a little girl, I cannot even imagine how her parents acted if she had this type of attitude.  Their poor, poor nanny- I hope she escaped with dignity intact.  I know for a fact people look down on this job, but you know what... I have something to say about that...


Everyday I am surrounded with bright colors, new ideas and views of the world.  Art, music, drama of all kinds; serious amounts of energy, laughter, emotions created of the highest highs and lowest lows.  Each day I am able to make a tear turn into a smile, I turn pillows into extravagant forts fit for a Queen, and I am welcomed into the world of extraordinary, imaginary things.  I answer very important questions like 'why is the sky blue?' and 'May I have ice cream for lunch?'-  I do all of these things with a smile on my face, kindness in my voice and the most positive attitude.  Why? Because I am not simply 'watching kids'... I am helping to shape small adults.  I am someone who is a part of a child's life; no matter how short or long, these children become a part of mine, too.  I build trust, love and long lasting bonds; these bonds, although made sometimes with very young children, help them learn to love, trust and build bonds of their own.  


I help create polite, smart, creative, fun, energetic, tiny humans... what do you do?

Hello, God? Its me, Haley.

::singing voice:: aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!! oh, so nice. as if angels were singing.. wow, just kidding. Be glad you cannot hear my 'singing voice' here as I wrote my 'aahhh" Anyway..

  Hello, God? its me, Haley...

Every once in a while, when I have a little free time, I venture across the bridge to check out surrounding areas and what they have to offer.  While traveling along the highway you see your basic streets, cars everywhere, some trees and people, etc.  The roads all intersect crazily, swerve every which way sending you to this off ramp, to the on ramp, to the next highway, an over pass, and down again- I do not even try to keep up; my good 'ol GPS still guides me more often then not. 

After all the busy of the up, down, in, out and all around.. (what a bunch of NUTS!).. I reach the tunnels.  Now, its your average tunnel space- tight, dimly lit, for the claustrophobic-type its a no-good-kind of space.  For others it is probably just a tunnel, driven through on a daily basis to work, home, whatever.  For me, as I begin to see the light at the end of this tunnel, I pick up speed, and I almost.. get excited?  Its strange to me, but it feels literally like a breath of fresh air once I hit the other side and see the sun and water.  Sometimes I just want to shout FREEEEEEDOM!!  Maybe it has a lot to do with the water.  Is there a connection; fresh air, water, freedom?  (Hmm, was I a pirate or prisoner in a past life? ARG!)  Well, I really don't know.. all I know is each time I come through that other end, I am hit with a new idea, or am inspired to get to the gym or go for a run.  This last trip (when I took the picture below), I started thinking about who I should contact first for school!  I mean, is this a tunnel to the bridge.. or a tunnel to God?!  

I know what you may be thinking, because I thought the same- if I try to take another picture like this, it very well may turn into the tunnel to God.  I will not do that again! haha  This picture above actually is not the actual 'tunnel to God' that I am always getting my ideas or inspirations as I pass through.  The view you'd see of that would be a cool arc built over the other side of the bridge; on a typical day you can see sailboats and motorboats, people biking along the walkway path down the side of the highway.  Its a lovely piece of bridge, rather funny to think of a concrete slab as "lovely".

Now that I am writing this I wonder if its a chosen spot for some of the, we'll call them 'wonderers', of Seattle.  Then again, any 'wonderers' probably do not stay long if they are getting inspirations as I am from the tunnel to God!  Maybe they go in with the intentions to find a space to sleep and just get by for a while.. then walk through knowing they want to go and get a job or something awesome!  HA! Ahh, I love you, tunnel to God.

(side note- title brings a smile to my face w. the memories of my friend Jess E back home.  "God, are you there?  Its me, Margo!" I can hear you saying it now... though, I feel like I get the name wrong every time.. or maybe the name changes with our drink of choice the evenings this is quoted?? <3 & Miss)

Welcome to it.

Hello & welcome to my blog!

Since I am new to the whole idea of a blog.. I think I'll just jump right in...

A long and drawn out story starting about four years back now.... brings me to where I am today-

current city, Seattle.

current job, nanny (multiple families)

current home, a basement.

home to family #1 - I care for twin girls age 5- we will call them Twin A & Twin M

There are the basics.  Here are some stories:

Each morning I wake up.. in a brand new place.  The place that I am starting to call 'Home".  The home is filled with new things, new faces, new ways of living.  Well- they are all new to me, anyway- and I am learning to enjoy each new thing and figuring out just how to add my own self into their already built home.

Each morning I wake up.. especially on the weekends, it is not on my own clock.  Some of my favorite stories thus far are the mornings I awake to the laughter, shrieks, pounding, running and jumping sounds I can hear -very clearly- above my head.  The kitchen, located directly above my room, is where the girls often try to whisper about what they can reach on the counter or in the shelves if they are particularly hungry that morning.

Other days, like today- I awake to the sound of the girls doing laps around the rooms- kitchen to living room, hallway, back to kitchen.. repeat (like a MILLION TIMES).  All of a sudden, WHAM!! things crashing to the floor, a cry out, then a simply stated "see, I told you so".   Ive only been here a month and I do not need to really see what happened to have a pretty good idea.  My guess would be the girls were doing some kind of chase and capture game involving superhero attacks (and possibly costumes).. then twin A fell (or was pushed, ahem) to then twin M stating "see, I told you so".  I have never worked so closely with twins before.  It is very interesting seeing how they interact, build off each others ideas and constanttllyyyyy compete.  The simple proclamation of "see, I told you so" was enough of a mini-knife stab to twin A that she will be hurting, at least through breakfast.  More stories of this type behavior to come, I am sure...

Another favorite was the morning, A Saturday around 7am or so.. twin M spotted one of their three cats coming in the cat door- she calls to her...

"aww hiii kitty kitty, so nice. so cute kitty"

a few minutes pass where I do not hear any talking- just long enough for me to start to fall back to sleep when I hear the loudest shriek I have yet to hear come out of twin M.

"AHHHH!!! NO KITTY, BAD KITTY!!! no no no! nooooo!!!!" then I hear running from the living room to the kitchen... more screaming- "KITTY HAS MY FROG- My FAVORITE FROGGY! no no, BAD kitty BAD!!"  side note: these girls have literally 20 rubber toy frogs, most of which look the same.

So, the cat escapes out the cat door with the freaking frog. geeezzumcrow.  I am a little horrible, I think, because this made me laugh. really hard.  Anyway- long story short- froggy was saved, kitty was forgiven, the day went on and I somehow went back to sleep.. until the next drama, approximately 30 minutes later.

This is my life - which I have decided to embrace.

Welcome to it.

:)