More Updates

Today at the library Nora was using the children's computer. She picked up the mouse and said "This is my iPod." She then said "I'm using the computer, I'm at my office!" There were some moms there who were cracking up and asking the Twin Whisperer how old Nora is.

Tonight at dinner Milo took a dump in his diaper. His face got bright red, and he clearly exerted effort, and then when he was done he said, "Excuse me!" Jake and I cracked up. Just something about saying "excuse me" after crapping your pants at the dinner table is comedy gold.

On a somber note, today was the Twin Whisperer's last day, and starting on Wednesday we switch over to the new nanny, who I'll call Buddy, for lack of a better pseudonym. The Twin Whisperer initially only intended to stay with us until the kids were 1, because she specializes in babies (and can get a much better hourly rate doing night-nurse duty with newborns). But she loved the kids, and they loved her, and we love her, and she stayed. Each time a new semester would come, she'd commit to staying one more semester. Her plan was to leave in January after they turned 2. She has another gig lined up and at 60, I think it has been getting very tiring for her to chase after two toddlers. So we found another nanny, and liked her, and offered her the position. And then the Twin Whisperer said "well, maybe I could stay longer..." but we had already offered it to Buddy and I didn't feel that it was right to go back on our word. The Twin Whisperer understood that completely, and plus we really want somebody who can commit to them long-term until they go to school, so that we can minimize transitions. Buddy can do that and the Twin Whisperer isn't in a place where she knows what she'll be doing in a year or two...I think she is secretly hoping and praying that her daughter gets pregnant, so that she can jump into full-time Grandma mode!

So, anyway, the Twin Whisperer is moving on and we are all very sad about it. She was sad today, but hid it well from the kids. She is coming back next week to go with me to the toddler gym one morning, and she'll continue to visit and babysit regularly, because she loves the kids so much. And on my end, I just couldn't have asked for a better nanny. She has been so wonderful for our family. The kids adore her, she is so warm and energetic and smart and always has great ideas for things to do with them and how to handle them. She has taught them so much and I attribute most of their knowledge and incredible verbal skills to her. She has also been incredibly reliable, honest, trustworthy, and industrious. We really, really lucked out. Honestly if I had to rank who I think it would be best for the kids to be with during the day, I'd place her as #1 and me as #2. She's just so darn good at it.

Buddy is younger and Nora is going to need some time to warm up to her, but she seems perfectly lovely and I hope it'll work out fine. Her former family is actually the family that the Twin Whisperer worked for before she moved on to us, so Buddy is following in the Twin Whisperer's footsteps again. The Twin Whisperer takes kids when they're babies, and then Buddy takes over when they're toddlers and preschoolers. I know that Buddy will be great, but of course nobody is like the Twin Whisperer, so it's a sad day today.