I don’t have internet at home. Only at the gym when I remember to bring my computer. And if it is not raining. And it is Rainy Season right now. For those of you who always ask, there are only two seasons – Rainy Season and Dry Season. And it is always hot here. Maybe 90 degrees out side? I don’t know. I don’t spend much time outdoors. Just indoors, where there is always A/C.
The other thing everyone asks me is what it is like to have house help. So more nanny diaries for those of you who are wondering what it is like. It is fantastic, by the way, and could keep me in Lagos for kid #2 if we are so blessed (everything is thanks to god here). We have this girl, she is 22 years old, lives with us in one of our spare rooms, and we basically take care of all her living necessities on top of her salary. In return, she basically becomes part of the family as baby’s other caretaker. And “house girl.” She helps around the house – right now, we don’t have a steward, so she has stepped in to assume the role. She wakes up every morning around 7, and cleans, irons, does laundry. Today, I told her she didn’t need to iron everything – like the socks for example. She said then they won’t look nice. I said don’t worry about the socks. The other day, she was also helping with the cooking (the cook/steward didn’t show up for work – lots of the house help have bad work ethic here). I was making burgers – she’s never heard of hamburgers. When I was watching TV the other day, a scene from New York was on and I told her that is where Yomi and I lived. She said, “Is that in Nigeria?” She’s never heard of New York, either. And Maylee was sleeping with her arms over her head, so she put them down by her side. So that she wouldn’t have bad dreams.
The other interesting thing that happened was at my sister-in-law’s house the other day. My 4-5 year old niece was playing with the Gate Man’s 4-5 year old daughter. The gate man is one of her employees, literally the guy who opens the gate for them when they get home. They were running around, playing chase in the house. But once my niece ran into the area of the living room where all the adults were, the other little girl stopped in the back of the room. She had some kind of imaginary boundary that she couldn’t cross – she knew at that young age that the employees/workers behave a certain way. Me, I’m still learning what that way is (I picked up that starting-with-“Me”-thing here), but am figuring it out.
Anyway, no matter what country you are in, I think finding a good nanny is of outmost concern to new moms. But so far so good with Cecilia. She is good with Maylee along with being a hard worker around the house. She sings to her, plays with her, tells her she loves her, feels sad when she cries so tries to make her stop as best as she can, misses her when she doesn’t see her for a bit – all signs of someone who really cares for a kid, which maybe is the most important thing. I am still with them most of the time, but am starting to do things to prepare for when I go back to work to ease Maylee into not seeing me for 8 hours during the day. Or maybe it is the other way around, ease myself into not seeing her for that long.
The other thing everyone asks me is what it is like to have house help. So more nanny diaries for those of you who are wondering what it is like. It is fantastic, by the way, and could keep me in Lagos for kid #2 if we are so blessed (everything is thanks to god here). We have this girl, she is 22 years old, lives with us in one of our spare rooms, and we basically take care of all her living necessities on top of her salary. In return, she basically becomes part of the family as baby’s other caretaker. And “house girl.” She helps around the house – right now, we don’t have a steward, so she has stepped in to assume the role. She wakes up every morning around 7, and cleans, irons, does laundry. Today, I told her she didn’t need to iron everything – like the socks for example. She said then they won’t look nice. I said don’t worry about the socks. The other day, she was also helping with the cooking (the cook/steward didn’t show up for work – lots of the house help have bad work ethic here). I was making burgers – she’s never heard of hamburgers. When I was watching TV the other day, a scene from New York was on and I told her that is where Yomi and I lived. She said, “Is that in Nigeria?” She’s never heard of New York, either. And Maylee was sleeping with her arms over her head, so she put them down by her side. So that she wouldn’t have bad dreams.
The other interesting thing that happened was at my sister-in-law’s house the other day. My 4-5 year old niece was playing with the Gate Man’s 4-5 year old daughter. The gate man is one of her employees, literally the guy who opens the gate for them when they get home. They were running around, playing chase in the house. But once my niece ran into the area of the living room where all the adults were, the other little girl stopped in the back of the room. She had some kind of imaginary boundary that she couldn’t cross – she knew at that young age that the employees/workers behave a certain way. Me, I’m still learning what that way is (I picked up that starting-with-“Me”-thing here), but am figuring it out.
Anyway, no matter what country you are in, I think finding a good nanny is of outmost concern to new moms. But so far so good with Cecilia. She is good with Maylee along with being a hard worker around the house. She sings to her, plays with her, tells her she loves her, feels sad when she cries so tries to make her stop as best as she can, misses her when she doesn’t see her for a bit – all signs of someone who really cares for a kid, which maybe is the most important thing. I am still with them most of the time, but am starting to do things to prepare for when I go back to work to ease Maylee into not seeing me for 8 hours during the day. Or maybe it is the other way around, ease myself into not seeing her for that long.
1 comment:
Hi Tricia,
My husband and I are moving to Nigeria. I am wondering how you shipped your furniture there. Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Corrin
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