My Daughter Likes You

When I first thought about hiring a babysitter for Celaya because of a catastrophic falling out with my youngest sister, who was watching Celaya two days a week, I was immensely stressed.

How could I possibly find someone?

Well, a few Google searches later I found Care.com, the most amazing website that connects parents to sitters, whether it be for date night or a full time nanny.  Originally I thought I might put Celaya into a daycare/early preschool a few hours a day, two days a week, so she could start socializing with an organized, structured group of kids.  Come to find out: daycares and preschools require a minimum of 20 hours a week.

What?!

I needed help for 6 hours a week.  Therefore, my small potatoes were not attractive to the childcare centers, and as life generally works out, I found something even better.

This site connected me to dozens and dozens of sitters who could have possibly been a great match for my specific needs: two days a week, from 3 to 6.  A handful of potential sitters messaged me via the site within 48 hours.  

And after a few days, I found her.  The perfect sitter. 

Sounds like the title of a scary movie, huh?

That's what I thought.

I got her background check, I called references, I even Facebook stalked her.  You name it, I did it, all in the name of a mother of a toddler doing everything she can to ensure her daughter's safety.  I requested a resume, I have her social security number on file.

The list goes on.

But really, in the end, knowing my daughter and of course knowing myself, it just took that first day.

Celaya took her hand and led her into her toy room.  She sat down with her and played.  My new babysitter made my daughter comfortable enough to laugh, to talk, and (biggest moment of all) to walk away from me.  

This young girl with her crazy cool hip funky sense of style and inner city accent won my usually recalcitrant baby's trust in seconds. 

In the weeks that she's been sitting for us she has explored the neighborhood with Celaya, sung the ABCs with her, talked about colors and shapes, and crashed toy cars and trucks with her.  She is honestly a dream come true.  I came home last week after work to find three white printer pages with green handprints on them.  My sitter had spend the afternoon fingerpainting (handpainting, really) with Celaya after they saw a man painting his house outside.  She even included titles at the bottom of each page.  My favorite is "Celaya flower handprint 10/29/13."  She helped Celaya make a flower out of her own painted green baby handprints. 

Good help is hard to find, and my daughter genuinely likes her babysitter.

What more could I ask for?

Oh, yea, that she stick around for a long time.  

I wonder how she feels about watching two kids...