3443 Peanut Butter

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.
-- Steven Wright --

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Daughter has some decisions to make. Her job: She gets a call when a client is scheduled, and goes in then, a few times a week. So her job-related babysitting needs are sporadic. I had told her I'd babysit for things like doctor's appointments or whatever, or when she and Hercules need an evening out, but that she was not to use me for job babysitting. I need flexibility, and she must treat babysitting for work as a professional thing, set up some kind of business arrangement.

Well, she's going crazy finding sitters. She's been depending on neighbors and friends, and she's paying $10 per hour. One by one the sitters are dropping out. One had a mild heart attack which resulted in surgery. One has a young daughter who continues to treat Nugget like her personal rag doll despite Daughter's requests for closer supervision (I had noticed long ago that after the Nugget had been there, she flinches at any quick movement). One smokes in the house when Nugget is there, now that it's getting colder and outside is inconvenient. One is a total ditz. Friends are starting to be too busy.

So Daughter is now looking into day care centers, for three days a week (Daughter would prefer two, but three is the least any of them will do), and for a multitude of reasons she's not happy with what she's finding. Daughter doesn't trust immunizations, so she's been delaying them as long as possible. Although Nugget is now 8.5 months old, she's only up to the 4 month level on her shots. (Actually, I agree with Daughter. I think they give some of those shots way too early. And NJ is nuts - they require way too many.) Anyway, the licensed centers won't take babies that aren't up to date on their shots.

I suggested interviewing granny nannies who wouldn't mind a few dollars a week on an as-needed basis.

It's only going to get harder. Hercules' new assignment is going to require every other month in Europe. He was able to negotiate it down from two months there and two here.

She's got options-
Get Nugget up on the immunizations for day care, or
Interview casual grannies, or
Quit work until Nugget is ready for nursery school, or
Finish a room in her basement where she can work, but for that she still needs a sitter, or
Sell jewelry on Etsy (temporary change of career), or
Both quit their jobs, move to and find work in Reading, Pa., and then use his family for sitting.
(His family is putting pressure on him to do just that.)

I swore I would not step in and fix this, but that last option really scares me - I just bought this house and am nowhere near selling the old one - I CAN'T move again, and there's no way I'm staying here if they move away. I haven't said anything like that to them, but it's freaking me out. His family has enormous influence on him. When things were going fine here, he was able to resist them, but with the Europe thing and Daughter under pressure, he may cave.

So, this week I am the work sitter. I had the Nugget four hours Tuesday, five yesterday, I'll have her Friday afternoon, and as of now, two days next week. At Daughter's house, Nugget can pretty much roam free, and she seems to be happy puttering around. Here she needs constant supervision, and for some reason demands constant attention (probably because the separation anxiety is higher), and won't nap because it's not her room and not her bed, which means she gets overtired and fussy. So I can't do anything else when she's here. Yesterday I didn't eat lunch until after 5. So it looks like I'll be sitting over there from now on, where I'll have a little more freedom to get things done, but ... what? Everything that needs doing is here, not there.

Sigh.

I'm sighing a lot lately.

Sigh.
.