My first week as an Au Pair!
Or as they like to say here..my first week as a Nanny! I'm settling into my new little Aussie family nicely. I don't think I could find a better one if I tried.
A little history of the family to fill you in!
Stephen (originally from Australia) and Claudia (originally from Chile) met while working at an Outback Steakhouse in Miami, Claudia as the head bartender and Stephen as "the real Australian" waiter. He shared that while working there he was asked all kinds of questions. Example: "Have you ever wrestled an alligator?" Anyways, they lived in various places throughout the States before settling in Seattle where Stephen worked for Microsoft and Liam and Veronica were born. About 5 years ago they decided to make the move back to Australia. They lived in the Geelong area, where Stephen's parents live, before discovering the Whitesbeach Guesthouse that was for sale, making the move to Torquay, realizing a bed and breakfast was overwhelming with 3 kids, and deciding they needed a nanny. Enter > ME :)
They have been more welcoming than I could have imagined and I am enjoying getting to know them a little more each day.
Liam is nine and in Grade 4. He is quiet and soft spoken and very well organized for a nine year old! What I've learned thus far is that he enjoys reading, an XBOX game called Skylanders (it's actually seems pretty cool!), and jiu jitsu, which he attends twice a week and just this week moved up to a yellow belt!
Veronica is opposite of Liam in that she is loud, dramatic, and not so well organized. But she is sweet and loves to cuddle. She is six years old and in Grade 1. Her birthday is in September and I've been told that she has been planning her party since the end of her party last year. She is very creative, loves to draw, write stories, dance, and decorate cakes!
Dillon, who I spend the majority of my time with, is a handsome handful of a two year old! He is learning to speak both English and Spanish (Liam and Veronica are also in Spanish lessons) and is at a stage where every new word is repeated over and over and over...and over again! He is done teething though so the majority of the time he is a happy camper and he lets me sleep through the night which I am very grateful for. He loves Finding Nemo and carries his little Nemo and Dory (and Bruce and Marlin and all the others) characters around all the time. He also enjoys taking walks to the park and to feed the ducks! He's quite independent. At meal time, I better not try to peel his orange or banana or open anything for him, he likes to do it himself and he lets me know it!
They are all fun and I'm sure I will get to know them much better in the coming months. Their little Australian accents are so cute and they say things like "I reckon.." or "Pardon?" which always makes me smile because I don't think you normally hear a 6 year old saying "pardon?" in the US. For the most part communication between my English dialect and theirs as been pretty easy but the other day I was picking up Veronica from her Sunday school class and told her I needed to stop by the restroom before we left and she told me she didn't know what room that was! Which I thought was funny...I told her it meant the toilets since that's what they call it here ("I need to stop by the toilets" - just sounds awkward to me!). I was also her "show and share" topic at school last week, she showed her class the picture she was drawing me and told them I was "Dillon's nanny" but I'm her "best friend!" :)
A little history of the family to fill you in!
Stephen (originally from Australia) and Claudia (originally from Chile) met while working at an Outback Steakhouse in Miami, Claudia as the head bartender and Stephen as "the real Australian" waiter. He shared that while working there he was asked all kinds of questions. Example: "Have you ever wrestled an alligator?" Anyways, they lived in various places throughout the States before settling in Seattle where Stephen worked for Microsoft and Liam and Veronica were born. About 5 years ago they decided to make the move back to Australia. They lived in the Geelong area, where Stephen's parents live, before discovering the Whitesbeach Guesthouse that was for sale, making the move to Torquay, realizing a bed and breakfast was overwhelming with 3 kids, and deciding they needed a nanny. Enter > ME :)
They have been more welcoming than I could have imagined and I am enjoying getting to know them a little more each day.
Liam is nine and in Grade 4. He is quiet and soft spoken and very well organized for a nine year old! What I've learned thus far is that he enjoys reading, an XBOX game called Skylanders (it's actually seems pretty cool!), and jiu jitsu, which he attends twice a week and just this week moved up to a yellow belt!
Veronica is opposite of Liam in that she is loud, dramatic, and not so well organized. But she is sweet and loves to cuddle. She is six years old and in Grade 1. Her birthday is in September and I've been told that she has been planning her party since the end of her party last year. She is very creative, loves to draw, write stories, dance, and decorate cakes!
Dillon, who I spend the majority of my time with, is a handsome handful of a two year old! He is learning to speak both English and Spanish (Liam and Veronica are also in Spanish lessons) and is at a stage where every new word is repeated over and over and over...and over again! He is done teething though so the majority of the time he is a happy camper and he lets me sleep through the night which I am very grateful for. He loves Finding Nemo and carries his little Nemo and Dory (and Bruce and Marlin and all the others) characters around all the time. He also enjoys taking walks to the park and to feed the ducks! He's quite independent. At meal time, I better not try to peel his orange or banana or open anything for him, he likes to do it himself and he lets me know it!
They are all fun and I'm sure I will get to know them much better in the coming months. Their little Australian accents are so cute and they say things like "I reckon.." or "Pardon?" which always makes me smile because I don't think you normally hear a 6 year old saying "pardon?" in the US. For the most part communication between my English dialect and theirs as been pretty easy but the other day I was picking up Veronica from her Sunday school class and told her I needed to stop by the restroom before we left and she told me she didn't know what room that was! Which I thought was funny...I told her it meant the toilets since that's what they call it here ("I need to stop by the toilets" - just sounds awkward to me!). I was also her "show and share" topic at school last week, she showed her class the picture she was drawing me and told them I was "Dillon's nanny" but I'm her "best friend!" :)
Dillon cheesin' - I asked for a smile and this is what I got!
Dillon playing in the sand!
Liam and Veronica came home from their grandma's house the other day with Furbies that their cousins had given them. Stephen said it was probably payback from something they had given to their cousins that their cousin's parents had to listen to. They won't be "new" for forever but right now the furbies go wherever the kids go. We went on a walk a couple days ago to feed the ducks, Me, Dillon, Liam, Veronica, and the new furbies.
Veronica and her "cute" furby...I'm not sure I would use the word "cute"...
More nanny stories coming soon!
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