

Yes, my summer nanny extraordinaire is leaving behind her teenage years, tomorrow. The kids and I have been decorating and wrapping all night in anticipation.
Isn't she gorgeous? We've got fall plans to head to Atlanta to visit my brother and sister.
I need to make her another CD, in addition to the multiple gifts sitting on my bar. She deserves riches. My other nanny speaks no English, and although I love her and will be indebted to her forever, it has been an amazing experience being able to text all day long about the kids, while I am at work. I feel like I am in touch like I've never been before.
Caitlin has made me some CD's, and they fit her passion for Baskin Robbin's bubble gum ice cream. My favorite sequence on one of them involves Bananarama, Black Sabbath, Black-Eyed Peas, Charlie Chaplin, and Coolio. Oh yeah, and there's lots of Glee. She really likes Glee.
My best compliment I have received all summer was from my friend Mary this week, who has met Cait briefly. She called to invite me to (two!) parties on Sat. night, and I joyously consented. My kids are leaving for the beach for a week with their dad on Sat., and I am happy to say that my social calendar is already full of dinners, brunches, extended family fourth celebrations, and parties! Mary said, "Yeah, she is really pretty. You could pass for sisters." Ha! Fifteen pounds lighter and fifteen years younger - but I'll take a compliment when I can get it.
Cait is already a family fixture after a few short weeks. I can't wait to have dinner with her mom next week. She takes a lot of heat from my kids (on rare bad days), and shows up the next day ready for a new beginning. Today she texted, "Being a nanny is a good antidote for being a mom. Mom's are truly unsung heroes." She nailed it on the head. I sometimes think I've got the better deal, being a busy pathologist. Still, I am jealous of all the time she gets to spend with Sicily and John. They are enamored. John, understandably, was too shy to let her see him in his underwear for the first week. Girl crushes start so early.
Sicily is hooked, especially after one on one projects involving cute animals. They make bubble gum construction paper notebooks with internet printouts of baby animals. Complete with pastel construction paper and fascinating titles like "Cute Animals!!!" Sicily is in heaven. John, who will finally let her bathe him, is enjoying hikes around Pinnacle with her, including crawling into tree trunks for great opportunistic pics to send to me while I am at work.
Speaking of Pinnacle moments, she is not scared of Spotty D, our king snake, who has graduated from frozen arctic fuzzies (embryonic mice) to small mice. He moved from a 10 to 40 gallon cage this week and Caitlin helped with the transfer. It is so different feeding snakes thawed, genetically engineered mice these days - much safer and easier than the live ones I fed mine in college. Easier on the kids - I can't imagine them seeing what I watched weekly - live mice being attacked and consumed, often prior to death. I can still see the conjunctival hemorrhages when they were caught tail first - bloody, bulging eyeballs threatening to pop from pressure while the mouse was still alive.
Happy Birthday, Caitlin! Welcome to your second decade. I mean third?