January 15, 2003 - 4:41 p.m.

A glimpse into nanny land

It's a pretty tranquil moment here in the house. Two kids are playing with the new batch of playdough (editorial note: homemade playdough is ridiculously easy to make, and kids love being part of the process, don't buy it at the store, it's a waste of money!) On a totally irrelevant note, I hate the fact that it is impossible to combine food coloring into a decent shade of purple! The best you can do is sickly lavender or muted plum. Believe me, I know: I've tried to create violet playdough many times and failed utterly. One of the many ways in which, as a nanny, I am only _practically perfect_. :) Today's playdough turned out to be an interesting shade of navy blue, thanks to B directing the food coloring addition.

The other child is dutifully practicing piano. Both girls are taking lessons and it's often like pulling teeth to get them to practice. Usually when they do, they spend most of the time just plunking random keys and experimenting, or playing the few melodic lines to various songs they have picked up. But I figure that without more detailed instructions than to get them to practice, it's not my problem. :)

This delightfully peaceful moment came at a very good time - specifically after snack time. Most days, I dread the words "Kris, I'm starving!" like the plague. Why? Because these children, who are quite intelligent most of the time, are unable to understand the concept of sitting in one's chair and simply going about the business of nourishing their bodies. They have to squat or hang on their chairs. They must place their heads on the dog's back and their stinky feet on the lovely maple table. They plunge their entire faces into bowls of Cheerios. Their parents and I have tried just about everything aside from actually supergluing their behinds to the chairs to inspire them to have good table manners to little or no avail. It's understandable that B isn't a model of etiquette, as he is not quite 4, but the girls really should have learned not to emulate feeding time at the zoo by now. H is 8, for heaven's sake! Therefore, snacks usually end up being a stressful time for me with me having to constantly monitor and nag. Today H managed to spill a glass of milk and half a container of yogurt. I would have hoped for a bit of operant conditioning to kick in if it weren't for the fact that most of the spill ended up on the floor rather than on her. Okay rant over. :)

So, God bless the ability of something as simple as playdough to happily occupy small children! Now I had better go check on the little angels or I'll find said playdough stuffed into the dogs ears or in the electrical outlets!

today's project: homemade playdough!

musing about: putting a video for the kids and reading my book - selfish nanny!

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