I'm the Nanny

I finally found a solution to my problem with people assuming I'm the mom when I'm out with the kids I nanny for... an "I'm the Nanny" button or name tag thing. In just one week, its happened multiple times. Once while I was at the mall with Ryan and Bryce. Someone said, is that one yours? I said yes to keep it simple... b/c technically he is my kid that I am taking care of. Well then she went on to say, what's his name? I said Bryce. Then the next question... "Oh, how'd you come up with that?" Ugh. I know it sounds easy to just say, oh no, I'm the nanny, but its not as easy as you'd think. Nathan learned that this week as well. Ryan, Bryce, and I met Nathan for lunch. We went to the slowest place in Midland, so the couple sitting at the table next to us began teasing Ryan and being very nice to us. We already knew they assumed we were the parents like 15 minutes ago. Then the man says, you've just got so much to look forward to in raising those boys. He goes on to tell us about raising his three boys and one girl. I was on my way out with Bryce so Nathan was left to either play along or correct the sweet old man. He chose to play along, learning that its not as easy as you'd think to correct someone like that. This week I took Bryce with me when I got my progesterone checked... the girl kept talking about how cute he was and then she said, I don't know how you concentrate on being a mom when you've got such a cute baby... I'd just want to stare at him all day long. In that case I did say, Oh I'm actually his nanny. It completely threw her off... she kind of stuttered around for a while then said, Wow that must be a nice job. It just makes people really uncomfortable and then they feel stupid. And it happened again while I was taking Ryan and Kyle to church choir practice. Kyle was fooling around and so I kind of called for him down the hall. The janitor said, "Are you Kyle? You're mom's calling for you." Kyle's response... "No she's not." Ha ha ha!! The poor janitor looked so confused. I called back... I'm the nanny." He was nice about it though. He said, well I guess he was right then. And as much as I'd love to take the kids to a play ground or library story time... its just setting us up for more of that. The library story time is half story time and half socializing... its just setting myself up for lots of awkward assuming. Now I'll probably do the DOW Gardens story time because that is less formal. So I figured if I had something that kept people from assuming or at least corrected them before they made a mommy comment... it'd just be easier for everyone.

I'll tell you what though... I just cannot wait until I can go out in public with my own kids and get to be the mommy. OH and I also learned that people are so much friendlier in Michigan if you've got a kid.

Woops... I'm not done yet. I also wanted to say how much Ryan and Nathan enjoyed our lunch date. Ryan just turned five and is a very smart little guy. When I say very smart... I mean he can read. When I say read, I mean he can read anything without sounding things out or hesitating. He sat down and looked at a menu and quickly read every flavor of ice cream... amaretto, black raspberry, creme de menthe, hazelnut, espresso, etc. He seriously reads like any adult. And he is only in preschool! Nathan was shocked at his reading skills. He can also add large number. I'm not sure about subtraction yet, but he is definitely a very smart kid. I know that his parents did work with him probably while they were working with Kyle on reading. It just shows that kids are capable of a lot more than we really realize. So yeah, I think Ryan and Nathan are going to be good buddies. AND you'd better believe I'll be putting Nathan to work on his days off during the summer when I've got all three of them, all day long to entertain!