I am shocked at how I feel this time but I wonder if its because I was a lady of leisure before and now I have someone else to look after. I am still working out which makes me very happy. Actually my best time of the day is between 9-noon and that is when I go to the gym because the playroom for Annie is open. I couldn't decide in my sleeplessness last night if I really felt good while working out or if I was distracted by my sheer exhaustion during my workout that I don't notice the nausea. I decided it was maybe a mixture :o)
About the gym playroom, here is my latest predicament. The manager of the playroom is this really nice lady with 4 kids 2 girls in middle and 2 boys in high school. She is very kind and always offering me mom advice (teething, sleeping through the night, etc...) She lives about 2 streets down from us and she loves Annie. This summer her youngest came to work with her and she was sweet and played with Annie the whole time. I appreciate the consistency of Annie knowing that Florence is going to be there every day and she seems to be very good with the kids as far as rules and discipline. But here is the hard part. She keeps asking me if I need her to babysit Annie. She would always offer to take her home with her if I needed to go shopping or run errands which is VERY kind. However I dont even know this womans last name! I feel like I would really appreciate having someone close by that I could have watch Annie while I run somewhere quick but I am not going to leave her with Florence. My biggest reason is her sons and husband. All the stories you hear about kids getting hurt, raped, etc are from neighbor boys. Now today she gave me her number because whenever she offers I just say "oh thats so nice of you" But I feel like I am going to hurt her feelings if I continue to blow her off. So what would you do? I don't want to offend her by telling her that I think the men in her home are rapists!
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I know I havent been a mom very long but one thing I do know is to go with my gut feeling. If you dont want Annie in her home then dont! Just tell the lady you appreciate her offer but you only leave her with family. Dave dont understand why I wont call our neighbors to watch Levi. Not that I dont think they would be good to him but I just dont have a good enough feeling about it. I have a hard enough time with family just becuase I am worried he wont be good for them. But to leave him with people we only sorda know just doenst sit well with me either. In a public area is one thing but in there home is a different story.
This blog post and ensuing comments might help:
http://www.challies.com/archives/articles/an-inflated-predator-panic.php
Kate, I would say to very kindly tell her that you have a lot of family in town and they love watching Annie, so you while you really appreciate her offer, Annie would miss that time with her Grandparents, aunts and other cousins. Not only is that all true, but I can't imagine anyone taking offense at that. But I would make sure she knows how much you appreciate her loving Annie and how good she is with her. And since it is Christmas you can always give her some small gift, from Annie, to make sure she knows she is important to you guys.
I'd say just tell her you have plenty of babysitters. If she's looking for companionship, you can always invite her over every once in a while for tea and cookies and to talk about babies, she might just miss having her own little ones around. That way you could be there and get to know her a bit better.
You have gotten some good advise from the comments, follow it closley. We just had a horrific story in the news here of a woman running a day care center, it could not have been more terrible, & she had a young daughter of her own. Don't leave that precious baby with anyone you do not know & trust compleatly.
Love you
ditto on all of it. I'll drive all the way there for you to run to getto-mart... :-) Although after what we saw this morning, that could be just as hazardous to her health. hehe
The article Kara mentioned is good, totally worth reading. Honestly, in my opinion, why take the chance? People are hurt in many different ways - not always through any kind of touching. Sometimes just being exposed to things that you wouldn't expose your daughter too is enough to say no thanks. There doesn't always have to be the threat of any kind of a physical molestation to use caution. I think you are very smart for being discerning on this! Your neighbor seems like she's just an innocent person trying to help - and she probably thinks Annie is SO cute (who woulnd't???) but there so many levels of innapropriate and you wouldn't even know (probably) if something went on over there. Maybe even this lady wouldn't know. You know? Personally, I think it's pretty risky. I'll watch Annie for you. :) I've been trying to hook Clay up with Anella recently, but Annie's a good choice, too. ;)
You've gotten great advice. I would also add this: keep having lots of babies. People are much slower to offer their babysitting services when they know they have to offer for your whole gang.
We are sort of psycho about who watches our kids. I totally agree with what Kimberly said - it's not always about the biggies (molestation and other physical harm), but about other things that might be harmful to Annie in more subtle ways. Our standard answer to folks who offer their kind babysitting services is that we just don't really do anything without our kids. And when we do, our little ones enjoy the time with their grandma.
And, besides...we all know that Annie is MINE!
This is really interesting. What did you end up doing? Geesh, just invite her to any Glenn gathering and she will surely see she is WAY out of her league;)
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