Bathtime with Will
Will during a bath over our recent trip to Oriental, NC. He LOVES the water… it is difficult to take him out of the tub! He also is a total ham and puts on a great show.
{ Monthly Archives }
January 2005
Babysitting Arrangement
Margarita (our Salvadorean nanny) stopped by last night with her son and granddaughters. We worked out a babysitting plan that works with her schedule at the local taqueria. She will come each morning (Monday-Friday) from 8-11am. So, we’ve got 15 hours a week of babysitting… at $150 a week ($10/hour). We really like her and she is great with Will. And we are lucky to have her. Still, the expense is considerable. Most full-time daycare is roughly $400-500 a month: cheaper than what we are paying now for Margarita. But the in-home care is really the only option we have until he’s older.
Lesson to be learned: children under 3 (ie: children who are not potty-trained) are VERY difficult to place in daycare, because of the high ratios and requirements for these caregivers. You have to have something arranged way in advance (one year is the shortest waiting list for these ages). OR, you have to have in-home care. This is high on my list of “things parenting has taught me.”
Oh, and seeing a daycare is really heart-breaking. The thought of leaving your kid in a place with lots of other small kids that need equal attention is very hard. The bottom line is that you actually DON’T want your kid in daycare as much as you actually want it.
Dream solution: grandparents who live next door and want to help LOTS.
Happy Birthday!
We celebrated my b-day on Thursday, the 6th with dinner — just Paul and I. We tried out a place in town (Olde College Inn) that is a popular local’s spot. It was fun and a great place to take folks and now that we’ve checked it out, we know that it is kid-friendly.
Mom stayed and babysat — she and Will watched Broadway documentaries. (Will is a fan of musicals, of course.)
Good thing that we got dinner in… if we’d have waited, we’d have been out of luck! Mom got *terribly* sick in the wee-hours and spent the rest of her visit in bed. In fact, my Dad came last night, stayed the night (Mom was too weak to travel) and took her home today. (We lost our babysitter!!) Poor Granna, she is really sick and feels so badly that she can’t help more.
The fact that everyone: Paul’s folks, my mom, Amy, Kevin, and Paul — ALL got sick with this virus and I somehow did not is very interesting. I figure I must have some great antibody for this type of rotavirus?
Feeling better!
Will is definitely on the mend. He still isn’t eating much and is in major tote-mode (Scheib speak for “wants to be held and carried”) , but is laughing, playing, singing, and exploring again.
His kung-foo roll off the changing pad, super-stretch to the kleenex box, and swift removal of every tissue during the brief 30 seconds I spent throwing away his diaper is a good example of how we know our little man is coming back.
Sharing zzz’s
In the great Wisneskey-male-family tradition, Will and Grandpa take a rest. December 29th, 2004
Morning Walk in Oriental
Celebrating the New Year by enjoying a morning walk in Oriental.
BIG NEWS
THE BOY is ENGAGED!!!
He asked Emily on New Year’s eve and (to great delight to us all) SAID YES!!
The irony is that Christie, Steph, and I (and Steph’s mom, who was visiting) had all worked hard over dinner planning the perfect proposal for them. (We did this while we were visiting at Christie’s house in Raleigh last week.) Maybe we’ll have to use those plans for the wedding. I’m sure Emily, the Boy, and Emily’s family will allow a birds’ takeover of their wedding.
Their current plans include buying a house in June and getting married later in the summer (maybe August)? I realize that hearing about the Boy getting married AND buying a house in one sitting is a lot to take in. But it’s all true! Yeah, Boy! Yeah, Emily!!
We are SOOOO happy!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we need a beautiful engagement photo to archive here (ahem, Boy…?)
Morning in Oriental
A beautiful, misty morning off the dock in the backyard of Paul’s parents in Oriental, NC. The water is an inlet to the Neuse River.
Oriental New Year’s Dragon
The Chinese Dragon, dancing down by the docks in Oriental, North Carolina. Following the head is a long train, under which locals walk and support the beams that hold it up. People change places throughout the parade from the audience, so the whole parade is a huge mix of people. It is also considered good luck for the year to touch the Dragon, so the streets are packed (as packed as they can be in little Oriental!)
Oriental New Year’s Party
Banners leading the New Year’s parade in downtown Oriental, North Carolina. I particularly liked that the banners are for many different years… including one in honor of the Y2K bug! They were carried by all sorts of folks from the town… basically, anyone who made a New Year’s appropriate banner that they wanted to carry!
