Bye Bye Binky, Binky Bye Bye

    I have a song stuck in my head right now. It goes like this, "Bye bye binky, binky bye bye...." over and over again. It is sung by Elmo. If that isn't proof that I spent my day with a 2 year old than I don't know what is. The little girl I watched today told me she had a baby in her tummy (her mom is pregnant). I told her that mommy was going to have the baby, not her. I asked if it was a boy or a girl and she said it was a boy, his name was "Free." I'm not sure if she was trying to say "He is 3" because she is turning 3 this month or that his name really is Free. Either way, pretty funny. I told her mom, her mom said the name was vetoed. The little girl likes to stick her finger in her diaper after she goes. When we were walking to change her diaper she kept trying to hold my hand. I was like, "I like you, but not that much." I told I'd hold her hand after she washed them, which we did, twice. After she sticks her finger in her diaper she likes to wipe it on her shirt, so we changed her shirt too. The mom and dad are WAY nice. By far, my favorite parents to work for. My niece Emma doesn't understand the concept of babysitting so she thinks I have a daughter.
    The sad thing is this new song from Elmo only replaced another song I had stuck in my head. One little boy named Michael got another song stuck in my head. He likes an LMFO song called "I'm Sexy and I know It."  He likes to change the words to "I'm Michael and I know it," or "I'm Miss Annalisa and I know it," or whatever the else he wants. So Ive  had "I'm Michael and I know it" stuck in my head for a few days now. Haha. He's such a cutie. It's funny to watch him dance.
When I was helping this other little boy shower yesterday his twin sister came in the room and said, "Do you want to take a picture of us?" I was baffled. I didn't understand why she was asking me that. Take a picture when? Now? Now that her brother is in the shower? Did I send off some pervert vibe or something? I just said, "I'm not sure what you mean, " to which she repeated her question. After awhile of this her brother explained what she meant. He said, "If you want to take a picture of us you can't. It's not allowed. Mommy says the babysitters can't take pictures of us. One babysitter did onetime and she got fired. " Oh. Now I understood. She was just asking the question in general, it was not at all related to the current situation. My panic quickly faded. 
The other morning my pop tart caught on fire in the toaster oven. I didn't even know it could do that. I was left without breakfast. :(  Well that's all. Tata.

Lalalife!

I've been meaning to write, but, obviously, haven't. I figure this is a good Sunday activity. So my life, huh?       
     Well, I've pretty much just been working a ton. I have been doing a lot of cleaning jobs for MyWay (a non-profit organization that does errands for senior citizens). I kinda wish they'd give me a variety of jobs. I like cleaning, but it's like when they had me gardening all the time last year- I get burnt out. And, I feel guilty when I come home after spending hours cleaning other people's homes and then come home and mine isn't sparkling clean. Oh well. Such is life.
      Nannying has been very good lately. I've mostly been doing that. My poor car has so many miles on it because I've been driving around to all these houses to babysit. I have been getting a lot of full day jobs and many of which with the same families. It's nice to work with the same families. Then I kind of know what to expect. I've had some funny kid convos lately. Here are a few:

• I work for a family that has 3 kids. I came to their house on a Saturday night when the youngest was already in bed. I had to keep reminding the daughter to speak quietly because the baby was asleep. After telling her that a thousand times I said, "You know, if you wake the baby up you'll have to take care of the baby the whole time your mom and dad are gone, right?" I was totally just joking. Then she replied, "Alright, but you're going to have to give him the breast milk because I don't have any." Then the older brother said, "Sofia, she doesn't have any breast milk!" As soon as I could recover from what was said I quickly tried to change the subject. Later on I told the mom and she said, "Oh, ya, you can tell we are very open in this house." I still laugh at that when I think of it.
• Another little girl who is super cute, but kind of feisty has developed a new habit. When we were coloring one day, out of the blue she asked, "Are you mad at me?" I said, "What? No." Now she asks that all the time. I'm not sure why she even thought I was mad at her. I mean I was kind of quiet but that's because all we were doing was coloring and listening to music. 
• I just babysat for a hilarious 8 year old boy last Friday. When I first got there he asked me, "Are you a teenager?" I said no. Later on he saw my arm hair and got all bugged eyed. (I knew he was thinking how out of control it is. I do not like my arm hair but after years of dealing with it I have kinda of decided it's not the end of the world to have it. Sorry if that's TMI, but it is what it is.) So he says, "Wow!" I said, "Uh huh," trying to ignore him. He said, "Why do you have that much hair?!" I said it was normal for people to have hair on their arms, some people just have more than others. I guess he thought the amount people have on their arms is a choice because then he said, "Wow. How long are you going to grow it?!" (As if it was the same as the hair on my head!). I laughed and told him that this was it, this was as long as my hair was going to get. Then he looked at my feet and asked why I didn't have any hair on my feet. I said people don't have hair on their feet, they have it on their legs and arms. Then he said, "Do you have to shave here?" (Motioning his upper lip). I said no. He said, "Oh, because sometimes when girls are... different, they have to shave there." I think by different he was referring to my race. His mother is from Brazil so perhaps she has to? Later on that night his dad came home. When he came home I was playing games with the kids. He said, "Wow. So you interact with the kids?" I guess the last babysitter let them watch the tv the whole time. I don't allow that. Although, I will admit, it'd be nice to just turn on the tv and tune/veg out on with some of the kids I've watched. Haha. I'm so bad, but it's so true. When we got in the kitchen the dad asked, "So what's your background?" I, remembering his wife is from Brazil immediately answered, "Oh, I'm adopted so I'm not really sure." He just looked at me like I had just spoken another language. So I realized that was not what he was asking. He said, "No. I mean, like are you in education?" I said, "Ohhh, haha. Uh, well I'm going into education?" Usually when people ask my background that's what they mean. I guess from now on I'll just ask a clarification question before answering it. 
• I had one little boy use the same piece of toilet paper to wipe himself after he peed to wipe his mouth afterward. It all happened so fast. There was no way I could stop it. He and his brother are such cuties. I was worried I wouldn't like to be a mom of boys, but if they were as cute as these two I def could. They were fun to watch play Just Dance 3.

I am sure there are more but that's all I can think of right now.
    Jeff is entering finals. After it there won't be as much book work. Yay! He'll start the clinic soon. Yay! His white coat ceremony is May 4th. My graduation is May 9th. I am getting so excited for my family to come out. Oh ya, I got an award from school. Kind of random. Here's the e-mail I got:

 

Dear Annalisa --

 It is my pleasure to tell you that you have been chosen by the faculty in American Studies as the 2012 recipient of the Robert M. Greenberg Memorial Award. That award is given to a graduating student whose work in the Program was characterized by high achievement. My colleagues in American Studies have asked me to convey their congratulations to you. In addition to its symbolism, the Greenberg Award carries with it a small amount of cash ($150).You should soon hear from our Dean's office about the May 9 Baccalaureate Ceremony at which awards will be made. Colleen Knapp, who I have copied on this email, will do some arranging with you.

Sincerely,

 Philip R. Yannella

Professor of English and American Studies

Chair of the American Studies Steering Committee 

Totally random because there wasn't a professor who I knew super well in AmSt. Well, the one I did was my capstone teacher because every time I went to her office she made me cry with all the crappy mean things she said to me. Random too because I don't feel like I rocked any one AmSt class. I told Jeff this and he said, "Oh, they probably just used your GPA." I was so sad. A GPA? That means nothing to me. After I told him that he said, "It's not called the BFF award. It's for academic achievement." :(  

We have neighbors above us now. No fun. I am super sensitive and wake up at any sound. Waa. (<--Curtisy of Tami and Nina from CPRx).  Construction still isn't done! Crazy. It's been over a year and a half. Doing a 10k (hopefully, if my knee lets me) with my friends in June. Yay. Super pumped Ellen will be coming back for a bit. Party. Back over personal progress in YW (along with 2nd counselor). Have a super good friend named Lori who I love to hang with. Still in my food stamps battle. Still need to man up and take my Praxis Two. I have decided not to do my credential program till January 2013 (instead of October 2012).  Well, pretty sure this is long enough. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed. If not, oh well. Just don't come back again. Jk. Adios!