Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Clean Up

OK - my pet peeve - I came home to a pretty wrecked house. For all you nannies out there, please, please clean up after yourselves and the kids. When I work all day and haven't seen my kids, the last thing I need to do is get home and feel the need to go into cleaning mode to fix your messes. I'm actually pretty lenient about the toys on the floor, but I can't stand finding dishes in my sink (instead of being in the dishwasher), food in booster seats, and dirty diapers sitting next to the changing pad. So it's pretty simple: to keep me happy, keep my kitchen clean and the used diapers in the trash. This is clearly stated in my rules sheet for nannies.

So it's been nonstop mess patrol in our home since I got home before 5pm. I'm annoyed. For those of you without young kids, there's this irritating "clean up, clean up, everybody clean up" song that is playing in my head all evening as I fix the nanny's mess.

We're on day four of the new nanny and we've definitely had some adjustment. I guess it's time for a reminder about kitchen messes and getting dishes into the dishwasher. Sigh. We've already had to discuss feeding and nap schedules several times. I think she's uncomfortable with ambiguity, and with any baby, there's no guarantees about when she'll nap or eat or whatever so I give the nanny rough guidelines (e.g., "feed them approximately every three hours") and this is confusing her a little. She seems to want exact times, which I can't predict. Hmmmm. I'm pining for my summer nanny (whom I ran into at Target two nights ago, and was overjoyed to see).

Work - well, there's a little news there. My boss has had a conversation with both our Director and HR about my WFH schedule. So far, no one has balked, but he's waiting on one last conversation (in fact, I'm a little unclear who he's looping back with, but I think it's our Director). So there's still a chance I'll get a "no, she must be in the office 4 days per week" but it's looking less and less likely that will be the final answer. Can you hear that desperate chanting of "please please please"? That's me. Until I know for sure.

I sent out invitations for Claire's birthday party next month. We took the plunge. She is getting a "real" party, with friends, at MyGym, a little indoors gym/play place where they'll have the run of the place to themselves on a Sunday for two hours. I might end up spending $50 more than I wanted to, but at least I'm not cleaning up after a birthday party in my home, nor stressing about party decorations nor how clean the home is for the adults who might size it up. I'm actually a little excited for Claire because I know she'll talk about it for the next year.

Molly has learned the pointing trick - she points at everything, showing me what she wants to touch or what she wants me to see or name for her. It's cute, except she cries all day to be held so she can "boss" me around to the objects she wants to touch. She also seems to be saying "dog" (maybe?) and "uh oh" (she drops things on purpose so she can say "uh oh") and maybe even daddy (da da).

Lily still isn't walking, which I did expect by now. She is standing and balancing longer each day, but when she wants to move somewhere, she knows crawling is her most efficient method so she continues to do that. I just re-read that efficient crawlers sometimes walk later, so maybe that's her situation. She isn't showing any signs of pointing or saying words, but I didn't expect that from her. She's the gross motor kid, and Molly is the fine motor and language kid.

And next week, we celebrate their first birthday. Amazing. A significant milestone in any twin parents' life.

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