I'm doing something this weekend I haven't done in ten years: babysitting. All weekend long. You see, we've got some friends who pretty much have everything in the world they could possibly want (for example, a seven-bedroom cabin in Gatlinburg). This makes getting them birthday/Christmas presents for them pretty much impossible. So FWT -- while sharing a few drams too many with them -- volunteered the only thing we have to offer: watching their kids for a weekend while they take a trip together.
Fortunately, I like their kids. I deal with them all the time from teaching piano lessons here and there, and I was a live-in nanny back in my NYC days. So I'm pretty much a professional kid-watcher. In fact, I prefer to be known as a governess.
That's another thing: these kids are going to have to call me Fraulein Brigid. I shall call them Liesl, Fredrik, and Märta.
I know for a fact that their mother just got new drapes for the formal living room, so I shall be making play-clothes out of the old drapes for our montage scene. Also, there will be nightly singalongs, especially in case of a storm. I will not permit frogs or pine cones.
FWT, who doesn't quite get it, says he is bringing a whistle so he can teach them to respond to commands. "Yelling for them from across the mansion just won't do," he says. "These kids need discipline." I think he just has trouble pronouncing the umlauts in their [new] names.
Of course, we could always just have movie night. I'm thinking maybe a musical...
Fortunately, I like their kids. I deal with them all the time from teaching piano lessons here and there, and I was a live-in nanny back in my NYC days. So I'm pretty much a professional kid-watcher. In fact, I prefer to be known as a governess.
That's another thing: these kids are going to have to call me Fraulein Brigid. I shall call them Liesl, Fredrik, and Märta.
I know for a fact that their mother just got new drapes for the formal living room, so I shall be making play-clothes out of the old drapes for our montage scene. Also, there will be nightly singalongs, especially in case of a storm. I will not permit frogs or pine cones.
FWT, who doesn't quite get it, says he is bringing a whistle so he can teach them to respond to commands. "Yelling for them from across the mansion just won't do," he says. "These kids need discipline." I think he just has trouble pronouncing the umlauts in their [new] names.
Of course, we could always just have movie night. I'm thinking maybe a musical...
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