My regular summer sitter is gone for a week so I had to find a replacement for yesterday (Thursday) and next Tuesday. Typically, I am a responsible, plan-in-advance person, but I was a little lax in getting my sub. Like maybe I waited until Monday afternoon to start making phone calls. I have several back ups, but seems that they were all back outs this time.
Panic set in when I still couldn't find anyone by Wednesday afternoon. I had several unreturned phone calls and was really holding out hope. Not good.
I happened to receive a phone call from my neighbor about something unrelated and mentioned my problem. She would be thinking for me as well. About 4 pm, she called and said her husband's best friend's wife would be willing to do it. After asking a few questions and getting her phone number, the deal was made. I trust my neighbor as far as the safety of my children. OK, maybe I was still a little mom-nervous about someone I completely did not know staying with my kids all day.
Before calling her and while still talking on phone with my neighbor, I jokingly mentioned that maybe I could get her to do some other things for me around here. Neighbor said "oh she probably would be happy to make extra money". Later, I will wonder if that got mentioned to the new sitter.
My regular summer sitter is a lovely, highly responsible young lady. 12 years old. You can call me crazy that I leave my 2 kids with a 12 year old all day in my home 2 days a week. But if you do, then you obviously don't have one of these kinds of 12 years in your life. Here are her qualifications: oldest of 4 kids, raised by an extremely organized mom who teaches her children self-responsibility at a young age (and who happens to be my friend P!), very intelligent, loves kids, still enjoys playing with young kids, knows how to cook/clean/do laundry/whatever you can think of. P lives about 2 miles away. All I ask of summer sitter is to play with kids and feed kids. They love her (and all the kids in P's family) and listen to her. I feel good about it! And by golly, I was The Ultimate Babysitter, so I know good baby-sitting when I see it.
Now, I am not a high roller when it comes to paying sitters. I got extremely spoiled by the low fee-for-service request by my friend P and then my next adult sitter. New substitute sitter agreed to my pay out, so I was happy. She doesn't have a job, so maybe it sounded good to her.
Talked to her on phone. Lovely. She arrived right on time. Lovely. She seemed to warm up to kids quickly. Lovely. She asked follow-up questions to my household review. Lovely. (And she didn't roll her eyes when I presented my typed review of the house and kids!)
The night before I had gleefully mentioned to hubby that maybe I could pay her a little extra to finish my ironing and maybe even mop. He said, "No, let's pay our car insurance instead." Whatever. Where are his priorities?! So, I sadly put away the mound of ironing and straightened up and had him vacuum prior to her coming the next day.
As I am showing her around, she asked at least twice if there was anything she could do for me. I choked down my desired words and said to just take care of the kids and relax while they nap. "Do you need me to vacuum for you?" Looking at the vacuum lines in the carpet, I said, "No, he did it last night?". The nagging tug in my head started right then.
I arrived home to find kids happy (but with no nap; later that would be a discipline issue for my children because of their saying "no" to her. a big no no!) and found my home curiously cleaner and pile-free. She had cleaned my kitchen (which by the way was already clean with clean dishes in dishwasher), unloaded my dishes, put away the toy pile in the hall, put away toys upstairs, made both kids' beds, straightened their rooms, emptied several trash cans, swept kitchen floor, and straightened everything on back porch.
Wow, of course, I am totally grateful.
But, it is how she mentioned a few of the things she did, that made the nagging tug a reality. By the way, she did NOT point out everything that I mentioned above. Most of those things I discovered as I made my rounds later. Knowing I would probably find what I found.
Again, she was lovely and I secured her for next Tuesday. It is just that I have a hard time when someone does something AND mentions it in that way that says, "hey, look what I did for you and don't you want to acknowledge what I did by paying me extra." Of course, I will thankfully put a little extra in her payment because I am grateful. It is just that nagging feeling that is bugging me. So, I told hubby, "You know, she did those things expecting me to pay her for it. So, if that is going to happen anyway, I would rather have her do the specific things that I really need done and feel good about paying her extra." Agreed!
She is coming Tuesday. I am leaving mopping and ironing on her list after kids (which totally come first!).
I am paying her for both days of childcare and chores.
In cash.
She will be a reliable sub for the future. But I think I like my 12-year old better!
Oh yea, the dilemma part!
Am I a bad person for feeling that nagging feeling that I feel?
Oh, and...
Do I tell my hubby that he ate a meatless meal last night?
As far as dreams really coming true...
I upgraded Anysa's bicycle yesterday. She had 2 already. Bike #1 was her original bike that was the smaller one with training wheels that had been passed down to Luke prior to his new Spiderman bike. She was riding it again because she could without the training wheels. But her knees always rose to her ears.
But she could pedal like a hamster, I am telling ya!
Bike #2 is her larger Schwinn I scored from my neighbor for $10. We had to put training wheels on it, but she loved it. Now, bike #3 is a resale shop purchase for $6.99 that I picked up yesterday on my way home. Pink. Disney Princess. Just a few boo boo's on it. The size between the other two. No training wheels.
As she was riding it like a pro last night, she yelled across the road to me,
"Mom, this is the bike I always dreamed of! It is the right size and it is a princess bike! I love it!"
Just add Dream Whisperer to my list of accomplishments!
Stacey
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