Sunday, April 12, 2009

An early farewell.

A little over a year ago I was tearing my hair out.
Beth was knee deep in studying and, for all intents and purposes, I had become a defacto nanny-dad. Now, this is fine, I'm not complaining, except that it was killing me. ;)
I love Zoe. But I also love going to the gym, auditioning, having coffee, lunch with friends...it's been 20 years of establishing a lifestyle like mine and to turn it into, well, daddy-sitting was making me nuts.
All of this doesn't really make me sound so great, does it? Oh, well. This is what I get for being honest.
I adore Zoe. And I adore sanity. Call me selfish.
Anyways, after complaining (again!!) to my brother, he had the wisdom to convince me to hire a babysitter.
It was a daunting task, to say the least. We didn't want to put Zoe in day care. THAT seemed extreme. So, we needed to find someone.
As per Jonathan's advice, I took an ad in Craigslist.
In an hour I had a response.
We didn't need to talk to anyone else.
We hired Michelle that week and, because of her I am sure, Zoe started walking on her 1st birthday. She encouraged reading and the importance of simple play.
In a word, she was excellent.
Was.
We've decided that it's time for Zoe to get some socialization. She needs to be around other kids. And she also needs some slightly standardized education. Something formalized. Otherwise she will spend her days demanding to watch Wonder Pets all the time.
So, we're looking at pre-pre-Ks. We've found two that we are interested in. Basically, the cost is the same.
But, it is the end of an era.
So, in the next two weeks or so, we say farewell to Michelle. Zoe's first teacher that wasn't her parents. Her first best friend. Her first babysitter.


Thanks, Michelle.

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