Sunday, July 11, 2004
so last night we had "professional" babysitter # 2. the quote marks are for a reason.
she was wildly attractive - tall, long dark mane of hair, short skirt, singlet top, just past 30, tanned skin, etc. I was a little taken aback that she wasn't all that interested in my long A-driving note, but in the general discomfort of her looks, her confident conversation, trying to get dinner eaten and get out the door, I let it pass. I did make her take the note into her hand to be sure she registered it. I showed her the baby's sleep area and did say "don't pick him up if you can help it" and so on. she was affectionate enough so I let it pass. I did ask her to read to him, partly as a way of reminding her what her job was. when I was ready to put him to bed she said "just one more page" and read that - I should have realised what that meant right there.
during the movie I was less relaxed than last week with the other sitter. sure enough, when we got home his alarm was on "tick", meaning she'd had to turn it off and back on, and then not properly.
she greeted us with a tale of how he'd turned into a "monster" - how he'd cried, how he'd waved his arms around, how he'd not wanted to go to sleep and "wanted to get up because he knew I (conceited babysitter) was here".
so she'd got him up, hadn't she? for a couple of hours. to play. play. at 9pm. oh, sure, after a while she bothered to look at my written instructions and seen that she'd been patting him on the tummy whereas the trick is to pat the side and say shhhh. and after a whole ten minutes (poor love!) this had settled him.
we have spent months on end, night and day, sitting by that cot resisting picking him up. shooshing him. patting him. in all kinds of states of exhaustion, under all sorts of pressure of time, guests in the other room etc. and she just gets a little bothered and picks him up. not only potentially blowing his training for us, but giving us a tired baby all the next day. and this on the night that dh is sitting for me and I'm off to my own apartment for the night. I didn't even bother saying anything. she's never getting near my baby again. I can forgive her being gorgeous and flaunting it at my dh (hey, she wasn't a redhead so it's safe), but people who don't read the instructions on a microwave are fools. on a baby, culpable. lucky she didn't decide to make him a nice omelette with milk and cheese while she was at it. maybe with peanut butter on toast as a side dish. (the instructions also detail his potential allergies and food rules.) how could you ever rely on someone like that to care for your baby as you wish?
as it turned out, A. was good for dh last night, (one wakeup after the 10.30 rollover) had a big bowl of muesli at 6.30 and went back to sleep at 7.30 for two hours (exhuasted from partying of course). and me? oh, I slept OK. it was just nice to know I wouldn't be woken by crying. I still woke up, but in my own time. hey, I'm still tired. but I've had my little holiday. now dh is off to head office for 2 days and we're on our own. time to head out into HK for some baby admiration time.
she was wildly attractive - tall, long dark mane of hair, short skirt, singlet top, just past 30, tanned skin, etc. I was a little taken aback that she wasn't all that interested in my long A-driving note, but in the general discomfort of her looks, her confident conversation, trying to get dinner eaten and get out the door, I let it pass. I did make her take the note into her hand to be sure she registered it. I showed her the baby's sleep area and did say "don't pick him up if you can help it" and so on. she was affectionate enough so I let it pass. I did ask her to read to him, partly as a way of reminding her what her job was. when I was ready to put him to bed she said "just one more page" and read that - I should have realised what that meant right there.
during the movie I was less relaxed than last week with the other sitter. sure enough, when we got home his alarm was on "tick", meaning she'd had to turn it off and back on, and then not properly.
she greeted us with a tale of how he'd turned into a "monster" - how he'd cried, how he'd waved his arms around, how he'd not wanted to go to sleep and "wanted to get up because he knew I (conceited babysitter) was here".
so she'd got him up, hadn't she? for a couple of hours. to play. play. at 9pm. oh, sure, after a while she bothered to look at my written instructions and seen that she'd been patting him on the tummy whereas the trick is to pat the side and say shhhh. and after a whole ten minutes (poor love!) this had settled him.
we have spent months on end, night and day, sitting by that cot resisting picking him up. shooshing him. patting him. in all kinds of states of exhaustion, under all sorts of pressure of time, guests in the other room etc. and she just gets a little bothered and picks him up. not only potentially blowing his training for us, but giving us a tired baby all the next day. and this on the night that dh is sitting for me and I'm off to my own apartment for the night. I didn't even bother saying anything. she's never getting near my baby again. I can forgive her being gorgeous and flaunting it at my dh (hey, she wasn't a redhead so it's safe), but people who don't read the instructions on a microwave are fools. on a baby, culpable. lucky she didn't decide to make him a nice omelette with milk and cheese while she was at it. maybe with peanut butter on toast as a side dish. (the instructions also detail his potential allergies and food rules.) how could you ever rely on someone like that to care for your baby as you wish?
as it turned out, A. was good for dh last night, (one wakeup after the 10.30 rollover) had a big bowl of muesli at 6.30 and went back to sleep at 7.30 for two hours (exhuasted from partying of course). and me? oh, I slept OK. it was just nice to know I wouldn't be woken by crying. I still woke up, but in my own time. hey, I'm still tired. but I've had my little holiday. now dh is off to head office for 2 days and we're on our own. time to head out into HK for some baby admiration time.
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