Hi! Me again!
Wow! Day one, week two working as an au pair for a wonderful family in London! My two new buddies are 5 and 8 years old, and absolutely gorgeous!
Young Master adores football (soccer to we individuals from down under), superheroes, running, jumping, expressing his feelings at high volume, and eating as many snacks as he can. I do believe he has hollow-leg-syndrome, once his belly is full, he has a compartment per leg to fill with food also! However, I do limit the snacking, much to his horror!
Young Miss loves loom bracelets (I am astounded how those little bands turn up everywhere they are not supposed to!), singing, Barbies, nail polishes, gymnastics, spinning tall tales, and telling her brother what to do.
One thing I love about coming from a country so far from theirs, is being able to tell them stories of when I was younger. They are entranced with my stories! Something minor like, Santa prefers to wear jandals, a singlet, and shorts when he’s visiting us, instead of his big heavy coat. I tell them a little story, engage their young minds, and see their imaginations run wild. And all the questions I’m hit with, “Why would Santa wear that? Why is it summer in New Zealand at Christmas? Do you still have a Christmas tree?” It’s so fun!!
They are so very smart! I sometimes stop for a second and marvel at what they know and how they communicate, at such a young age! There are definitely moments where I do wish that they would just enjoy being little sproglets, and let me worry about being the responsible one. (Never thought you’d hear me say that, now did you Mum??)
I’m not used to children who are so very quick to turn on the water works, whine and cry. Makes me want to wine and fry (preferably bacon, or a steak, or both!)!
We had a little adventure today where we all meandered up to the local bakery, purchased a small lunch and ate in the park. London experienced a rare day of SUNSHINE in the midst of Autumn, so we made the most of it!
After we had feasted, one wanted to play hide ‘n’ seek, the other wanted to go to a nearby playground. They couldn’t agree, they loudly disagreed, they promptly cried. All within the space of 10 seconds, I saw two very happy young kiddies become hysterical over the next activity they wished to do. Neither of them could see a way to fix the situation, so both cried. And I’m sitting there wondering where my two buddies have disappeared to, and who these children were! Seriously.
So, in I come, bravely approaching the water works show with an idea, “Let’s play hide ‘n’ seek, then go to the playground!” Nope. Cried harder. Then sprocket one who wished to go to the playground exclaimed, “I don’t like playgrounds any more!” Sprocket two perked up and said, “So we can play hide ‘n’ seek now??” Sprocket one squealed, “No! That’s for babies!”
All the while, I’m silently praying for a golden horse-drawn chariot to appear in the park, a heavenly figure to hold out their hand and say, “Stephanie, come, the banquet is waiting for you.”
I counted to ten, looked around… No chariot… Counted to ten once more… Still nothing. Obviously there was a heavenly traffic jam somewhere, so my chariot was late. In the meantime, I stood up to go and said, “Ok then, my friends have gone home. So I suppose I should too.”
“What?? No! Don’t go, let’s play hide ‘n’ seek!” said sprocket one, who not so long ago proclaimed it was only for babies.
I quietly sat down and smiled to myself as they ran off playing. However, ten minutes later, my chariot had still not arrived, and the sprockets were ready to go carve a pumpkin. (Which I was dreading… This would be a first for me.) So, I resigned myself to the fact that my chariot would be much too late, and ventured home with my little buddies to butcher a pumpkin…
adventuringtaonga 