Friday, January 21, 2005

Well, they DID love me.

First, I must apologize to all you moms out there. My first day of nannying was going great; I was thinking, "Man, having kids is a piece of cake!" I was feeling so organized and domestic and on top of things...until about 3:15, that is, when I flooded their house.

Okay, technically, *I* didn't flood it. The 4-year-old did.

He went to the bathroom and washed his hands right before we left to go get his sister from kindergarten. When he was done, we got their shoes on and took off. We got back about half an hour later to find that two of the large basement ceiling tiles had collapsed and their was water all over the basement floor. I took off through the house to find the source of the water--and it the was the bathroom faucet, which was still running. The bathroom was FLOODED. Now mind you, the mom was due home in about 15 minutes.

Thankfully, she was got home a little later than expected, which gave me enough time to mop up the standing water in the bathroom and downstairs. There wasn't much I could do about the carpet in the basement (and, of course, the partially collapsed ceiling), so I just put towels down to stark soaking up some of the water and took the kids upstairs to fix them their snack (which I had found the "recipe" for online--you peel and core an apple, cut it up, put it in a dish with some water and cinnamon, and microwave it for about a minute--the apples come out soft and moist, like cinnamon apple pie filliing. It's a great healthy snack). So anyway, the kids and I were eating at the kitchen table, the house smelling of cinnamon, when J. came home from work. We were the picture of domestic bliss--until the 4-year-old announced, "The water made the ceiling break."

I explained the situation, taking full responsibility for not checking on Noah (and the bathroom) after he had washed his hands. She was really, really great about it. She said things like this happen with kids, and it could have just as easily happened when she was with them. She was mildly worried about her husband's reaction, as the carpet downstairs was brand new, but he took the news remarkably well, too, when he got home about half an hour later (the fact that there was an "outsider" present probably helped to curb his anger, though). =-)

Anyway, they seem to still want me to come back on Monday, so they can't be too mad about it.

And there you have my first full day as a nanny.

5 comments:

Jen said...

Then later last night, as I was preparing a relaxing bath, I spilled hot candle wax all over the counters and floor. Jeff said he was almost afraid to let me take a bath by myself, and advised me to use my bath pillow as a flotation device "if I got into trouble."

LOLOLOL.

Anonymous said...

For some reason I'm really not suprised by your mishap. Really not suprised at all. Things like that always seem to happen to you. Melissa

Anonymous said...

I forgot to say congradulations on your job. Melissa

Jen said...

LOL...I know. Only me, right?

Jen said...

Today went much better. The whole day was very smooth; I felt quite on top of things, though I checked the faucet every 30 seconds or so. =-) When the dad came home, the boys were playing and M. and I were studying her weekly Bible verse. It doesn't get much better than that. =-)