Babysitter found

I have found a daytime babysitter for Fay for 3 days a week. I used the care.com site and did some power interviewing at the end of last week. I saw about 9 woman in 3 days. I was getting pretty discouraged by Thursday afternoon when I hadn't met anyone I liked. It amazes me that most of the women I interviewed would hardly interact with Fay. They would mostly talk to me about themselves and their skills, but I don't think they knew that they were in the spotlight for me to evaluate how they play and talk to Fay. Fay's opinion is just as important as mine!

Finally on Friday, I met a woman from Australia who I instantly liked. She is warm, kind, smart and resourceful. She also seems like she is eager to do the job and do it well. She has spent some years caring for children in third world countries when they've been traumatized and/or when they've lost their parents. I told her I was going to feel somewhat silly calling her references to ask if she was qualified to take care of ONE child in Manhattan, after caring for so many distraught children in Africa and Pakistan.

Of course her references had nothing but amazing things to say about her, as well as her new roommate in NY. She is new to NY, having been here only 3 months. So she will get to learn the city partially through a kid's eyes.

We worked together on Monday of this week, so Fay could get used to her and I could show her the neighborhood as well as Fay's routine. Then on Tuesday I went to work and left Fay with Deb for a full 10 hours. Things seemed to have gone well. There was some crying as I left and as Ryan left in the morning. And she was holding her blanky quite close all day for comfort. But Deb said by the afternoon, they had become better friends.

I didn't even really get the welcome I wanted at the end of the day. No running for the door as I pushed it open! Perhaps mommy was not missed as much as I had imagined. But I know she was a bit tuckered out because through this she is also transitioning to one nap. She is not getting as much sleep as she needs.

All in all, this return to work is going well. I like Deb a lot. As soon as I see Fay smile with glee when she comes in the morning, I will be fully relieved. She used to do that for Mandy. I know Fay has a lot of love in her heart for people other than me. She is such a sweet sweet girl.