diary of an au pair

two months away is very hard on the bank account and hence i've taken up the all-time favourite summer vacation job - baby-sitting!

my cousins are either very brave and very trusting, or just very relieved to let someone else chip in for a change! (haha if it was me it'd be the latter for sure, but for them i think it might actually really be the former.)

the past few days have been an endless cycle of feeding, cajoling, wiping, playing, picking up toys, nagging, bathing, changing, reading stories.......................... i think i'm a 20min nanny. i have the attention span of a kid and i get bored quite fast. i still persevere but in a far less enthusiastic way and thus i thoroughly admire my cousins' patience and their ability to keep sounding chirpy.

i much prefer babies and toddlers - they can't talk :P nathan is still as charming and cute as ever but he's also turning into a very precocious 5 year old who lives in his own world which -surprise surprise- revolves around only him and hence is very attention-demanding and energy-sapping and it's very hard to get him to actually take in anything you say to him. he's also way too hyperactive.
lauren, on the other hand, has only seen me for maybe a total of 10 days (over 2 separate periods of time) out of the 480 days of her life and yet is generally very easy to manage, seldom cries, makes bubbly noises, and can occupy herself when you're busy. she's just learnt to walk and hence seldom goes too fast, and when she goes too slowly you can just pick her up and carry her. she loves shoes and could probably be another imelda marcos in the making. (nathan loves churches but i doubt he'll become a vicar because he announced loudly yesterday that he 'hates bible passages!')
can't rejoice too soon though, nathan was a marvellously easy-going baby when he was young too, which is why it must just be the age. children are much more enjoyable before, say, 3?

i love being with my cousins, they're just the sweetest, most loving people in the whole wide world and they're always so nice to everyone and always so genuinely interested in people's lives. they also keep offering me tea :)
i feel like a big little kid.

i've also done quite a bit of cooking. roast pork on friday, salmon, cheese and hummus sandwiches on saturday, and laksa today for father's day lunch for my uncle and cousin which i was rushing to make amidst trying to put lauren to sleep but for once she wasn't being cooperative and kept howling her head off. i just remembered that i left a used nappy on the bathroom floor and a jar of cream uncapped somewhere. oops. fail.