I swear my life is a dramatic soap opera sometimes.
LiLi & Olivia
Phew. Nannying. Never in my life have I been involved with something so rewarding, yet so painstaikingly exhausting and frustrating. I mean really, it’s great. I’m getting paid almost twice as much as was getting at Alta, and the hours are super flexible. And let’s be honest, I don’t actually work. I take the girls shopping and to gelato and to the pool and to all sorts of girly things. In essence, I have every teenage girls dream job. But I can’t deny the fact that under the fine print of “Nanny,” it clearly states “indentured slave to preteen girls.” And boy, is it true sometimes.
Context to this above statement..I’m staying with the girls while their mom is in Winston Salem for a few days. So I’ve been with them for about 36 hours and counting now. My sanity is still intact, but I am feeling the physical exhaustion of both keeping up with them, but also keeping the peace between the two of them.
So, without further ado, let me introduce you to my owners.
Olivia. She is 10 years old and 100% independent. I have never met a more honest young woman. Which in essence, is great. However, she is so brutally honest sometimes it would drive people to commit suicide if they weren’t grounded. Simple example. I cook them peppers and veal for dinner. She complains because the peppers are too “crispy” on some sides and I over cooked them, “but that’s okay mommy does it sometimes too,” or, “Oh we don’t put plastic in the microwave because it causes cancer,” and, “Oh no those go over here but it’s okay cause you didn’t know.”
Pretty sure I have warmed up food in plastic bowls 493,200 times before. And I haven’t died yet soooo..
She also is uh. Extreeeeemlyyyy bossy. Not to me or her mom, not even her friends. No, just her sister, LiLi. It breaks my heart sometimes the names she calls her or way she belittles her. I’ve been instructed not to call her out on it, rather remove one of the two girls from the situation or redirect the conversation to something more uplifting. Obviously the parenting choices of her mother reflect the behavior exhibited, but if I were miss mom I’d rinse her mouth out with soap once and that would be the end of all name calling. But I’ll save that for my own children one day.
However, she does have many redeeming qualities, her heart is as big as her mouth. She loves animals and is passionate about her sports. She is an artist and a dancer, and also excels at figure skating. She is polite and cheery, she literally can light up a room. She is definitely the encourager, as I’ve only seen her in a stereotypical preteen mood twice. She loves wearing neon colors and fixes her hair with clips and intricate braids more than I can count on two hands. She doesn’t like when things don’t go as planned, as she likes to stick to the “plan” in everything she (or we ) do. Overall, she is really wonderful and has taught me so much already, plus has doubled my God given amounts of patience. Woopie!
Now onto LiLi, sweet LiLi. She causes me no problems whatsoever. She’s the younger one of the two, and is the complete polar opposite of her sister. A lot of this comes from her vision problems, she is legally blind, and literally cannot see anything more than about 7 feet away from her. She holds things very close to her face to see, and is very clingy and needy. She is 9 and still likes to hold people’s hands, which absolutely melts my heart. She doesn’t like talking to people she isn’t familiar with, but immediately opens up once she feels they can be trusted. She has a small stutter, and practices her tap routines everywhere she goes. In the car, in the kitchen, in the shower. She loves the game UNO and doesn’t like ice in her drinks. She is curious, always asking me for the definition of a word she hears in context. She is beautiful, and will be such a gorgeous young woman one day. I love praying with her before bed and holding her hand as we cross the street. I hope I have a daughter with her sweet soul one day.
So to sum it up, they are both beautiful, inept, unique girls. However, because they’re personalities are so drastically different, almost always they are bickering, or Olivia is nit picking on the latest thing LiLi has done “wrong.” It’s exhausting and frustrating and does get under my skin sometimes. Thankfully though, I am blessed with the ability to hold my tongue when needed and try to problem solve as best I can. So far I think I’m doing an okay job. That is, until Olivia points out how much I suck at life.
Aaaand that concludes this session with Dr. Kristin, the pretend PhD writer.
Lololol I am so tired.
