rivka

We have hired a new nanny. She starts the Monday after we come home from SUUSI.

I was pretty confident about her right-ness after our phone interview. I had spoken to a series of young women who all sounded very much the same: an oppositional four-year-old? Time out, followed by taking away a privilege. Tantrums? Ignore them. This one said: "Four-year-olds love games, so I'd probably try to make it into a game somehow." And "I try to be sympathetic even if it doesn't make any sense to me, but then there's a point at which you just have to say 'maybe you just need to be alone for a while to get this out.'" She just sounded... more thoughtful. Less by-the-book.

Then she came into our house for the interview, and both kids were drawn to her like iron filings to a magnet. In about five minutes, Alex was sitting on her lap. She seemed to be one of those people who is just effortlessly good at relating to children, with a calm, low-key, but fun and imaginative energy. She even - and I still suck at this, so I was impressed - found a way to play with both of them at once: she pretended that Colin was a giant baby attacking Alex's dollhouse. She moved Colin and narrated his actions, and Alex played the role of the fleeing dolls. They both loved it.

Religion's not going to be an issue; she's got a rainbow flag button on her bag and her .sig quote is from Thich Nhat Hanh.

Her references think she walks on water.

This time it's going to work, right?

(And if it does, we owe