Nannying!

So I have started two different nannying jobs, and both of them are quite fun. It's really nice to hang out with babies! And it's been strange and interesting, after spending so much time where every kid I encounter has some sort of issue for me to assess/treat, to spend some time with typically-developing kids. Every time they do anything age-appropriate, my first instinct is "Wow! You're a genius!"

The first I started with is Heath, who will be 1 year old later this month. He is super cute, starting the drunken-sailor stage of walking, starting to use some consistent word approximations and quite interested in the world. (I should get permission from these parents to post pictures, because both of these kids are ridiculously cute). His family is from Tasmania. I've heard that people from Tasmania are a little crazy, but they are both quite laid-back.

They live in a suburb quite a ways out from where I live, so I have to take the bus up there. The upside of this, of course, is seeing a completely different part of Canberra from where I'm living. We live in a suburb called O'Connor, which is quite close to the university, and not too far from the city center-- also across the street from a school and a Polish cultural center that hosts a variety of unrelated events from DJ dance parties to live music to...who knows what, but older ladies dressed up in nice clothes. Harrison (the suburb where this family is) is on the outskirts of Canberra, and looks a lot like what I sort of pictured Australia to look like.



Vaguely deserted, rolling hills with short stubby vegetation, etc. All of the gravel I've seen here is red clay gravel. It's spring, so the trees and flowers are all blooming or dumping pollen. It is SO QUIET out there that you can hear swarms of bees in the flowers from several paces back. The quiet was a bit eerie at first, but I'm coming to like it. I at least prefer it to the GIANT SCREAMING FLOCKS of sulphur-crested cockatoos we have in our neighborhood.



The second family lives much closer to me, and they're kind of ridiculously nice. Their baby, Lola, is 8 months old, and also ridiculously cute. She's not quite crawling yet, but wants desperately to be mobile. She loves being held up so she can pretend to walk across the floor. So far I've just been there with her mom as well, learning their routine etc. Actually, because Lola naps when I'm there one of the days, I got paid to watch What Not to Wear and drink cappuccino (both of which the mother kind of insisted that I do) while the baby slept. Which is basically the perfect job.

I also just got an offer today to manage the creche (nursery) for a program for refugee women to learn fashion design/creation skills for the next two weeks-- not sure if it will work out exactly, with the times they want me and the times I'm already booked for sitting, but it sounds like a pretty amazing program, and right up my alley. http://nosweatfashions.com/ I hope it works out!