For two years I've written a series of blog posts about
the little [and not-so-little] things that I am grateful for.
I figured this was a good tradition to have, so I'm continuing it again this year.
The first year, my posts were titled "An Attitude of Gratitude" and last year's posts
were titled "Count Your Blessings". Which I'm bummed I used already,
because I wanted to use it this year, to go along with the banner I made.
So, this year's posts are instead titled "A Grateful Heart".
Today I have a 'grateful heart' for my job.
For the past 13 months I have worked as a nanny for a family in Richardson,
caring for their adorable twin girls, who will be turning two at the end of the year.
[And occasionally watch their four year old brother, too.]
I am just not a 9-5 type of person.
The fact that half of my employment has been working retail,
where your schedules rarely ever remain the same,
probably has something to do with that.
Three times a year, I get a slightly different work schedule,
thanks to the changing schedule of the mom's job teaching at a college.
Sometimes I have to be there by 7:15am and other times
I don't have to be there until 10:30am.
Occasionally, I have been off between 2:30-4:30pm,
but for the most part I am off by 5:00pm.
So I am extremely grateful for that little bit of variety in my schedule.
I am also grateful for this wonderful family for, well...just being wonderful!
They were very understanding, when I needed a week off,
with only a day or two notice.
I get paid holidays, including two weeks for Christmas and New Year!
They also are very understanding about my transportation schedule
and try to make sure someone will be home in time for me
to be able to catch my bus to the train station.
[I have missed it a number of times, though.]
Thankfully, there have only been 3 or 4 times where I've had a problem
getting there in time, due to a late train or broken-down bus.
And I think all but one of those times, it ended up not being an issue,
because one of them was going to be home during that time.
But I am especially grateful for the opportunity to be a part
of these sweet little girls' lives.
It has been such a blessing to my life.
[And right now, it's basically the only good thing keeping me here in Texas.]
I am amazed at how much they have grown and changed in this past year!
They were just crawling around when I first started, just beginning to try to walk.
Now they are definitely on the move! And so very vocal, too!
They're vocabulary AMAZES me!
They definitely are little sponges, soaking everything in to those brains of theirs.
They have been COMPLETELY OBSESSED with ballet for the past few months!
Sometimes the first thing out of their mouths when they wake up is,
"I wanna wear my tutu!"
[Then I remind them they can't wear them until after breakfast,
because we don't eat with tutus on, since we don't want them to get dirty.]
It's so cute to see what they pick up on, while watching videos on You Tube
of ballet dancers performing Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.
They'll notice them dancing in a circle, so they'll dance in a circle, too.
The ballerinas are dancing holding hands? We've got to hold hands, too!
They know that there are five positions.
[They still haven't quite learned how to do them,
even though I've showed them a number of times.]
They also know all the different movement terms; pirouette, jete, plie, arabesque, etc.
There has been a bit of a downside lately..
Even though they aren't two quite yet,
they have been displaying traits of a "terrible two" for a while now.
Just learning when to pick my battles and putting that
"patience of a saint" into practice more often.
But hey, they still nap everyday for two hours [or close to it],
so I can't complain too much!
Grateful for the opportunity to teach and help these sweet girls!
[And to learn from them, as well.]
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