1. 1 year ago 

   Haile just came into my room and said “Y mi biberon??!”

   First, biberon means bottle.. yes, like baby bottle.. yes, he is 5 years old.. yes, I know its weird

   Second, I JUST GOT HOME AND I´M NOT WORKING. go ask your mom for it

   Third, do not demand things of me. Just because your mom is paying me to be with you, doesn´t make it okay to disrespect me all of the time

2. 1 year ago 

   For the first time since I´ve been here, I screamed at the child

   I had literally tried everything else I could think of. I was nice, I said please, I was firm, I had patience, I bribed him, I threatened him, I told him a tall tale to get him to do what I wanted, I told him I would tell his mom, I tried to make a game out of doing what I wanted him to do and he wasn´t having any of it.

   So I screamed. I´m glad I screamed instead of slapping him because I really wanted to slap him. Even after I screamed he still didn´t stop playing and he wouldn´t do what I wanted him to do.

   There was only one thing left to do. I ignored him. Completely ignored him. He was screaming at me to look at something and I just kept ignoring him.

   Then, miraculously, he stopped playing around, sat in his chair and started eating his lunch.

   This is a great lesson in motherhood. I know I shouldn´t let what he does get to me because all he wants is attention. If I keep giving him attention every time he acts out, he´ll keep doing it. But once the attention was gone, the fun (for him) was over.

   It scared me that I screamed though.. I was telling my friend Jose that I am going to be a terrible mother because I just don´t have any patience with kids like Haile.. and if I had one like him, I might hurt him. Jose told me that its different when its your kid. I hope he´s right

3. 1 year ago 

   I was humming a tune that I couldn´t get out of my head

   Haile asked me “what song is that?”

   I said.. “I don´t know!”

   He said.. “I think its the Beatles”

   Sure enough, he was right.

4. 1 year ago 
   

   He´s cute, and he´s lucky he has that going for him or else he would be intolerable.

   • Tagged:
   • Haile
    
5. 1 year ago 

   There is nothing more terrifying than a screaming child

   Its funny how it would be less terrifying if the child was actually hurt or had reason to be screaming like someone had just broken his arm.

   The boy wanted ice cream before dinner. I first offered him a Popsicle, because I knew that he would still be hungry for dinner, I mean its just water and sugar right? He didn´t have any of that of course. He started crying and said he wanted ice cream and that wasn´t ice cream. Then, because I´m such a good au pair, I offered him these tiny ice cream cone things we had in the freezer and he says “THOSE ARE TINY!”.. Okay, so he´s smart. 

   I said “Fine, I offered you ice cream and you didn´t want what I offered so you don´t get any ice cream”…. big mistake.

   The boy screamed this horrendous, high pitched, terrifying scream and started to cry.. which normally isn´t too scary, kids cry all the time, but when he cries, his eyes get really red and glassy… Its almost as if the demon that is possessing him is coming out. Then he screamed at me, almost unintelligibly, that when his mom got home that he was going to tell on me.

   I walked straight back into my room and started a movie, hoping that the neighbors wouldn´t call the policia because of the blood curdling screams coming from next door.

6. 1 year ago 

   I´m watching a movie on my computer and Haile just came into my room and told me..

   ¨Caroline.. Enough TV already..¨

   He´s just jealous because he´s not allowed to watch tv.

7. Notes: 1 / 1 year ago 

   Coming to Spain has made me realize how terrible my English is.

   I always make up words and use phrases wrong..

   I have always been proud that I spell really well but recently I´ve started spelling things wrong and not realizing it.

   So I´m going to come back to the states knowing two languages but speaking them both horribly.

8. Notes: 1 / 1 year ago 

   I mildly love when the boy goes over to his friends house. No work for me!

   of course, on the other hand, when his friends come here, its double work for me. It all evens out.

   Today is my last day in Madrid for 3 weeks! I´m heading to A Coruña with the boy and his dad. The dad is shooting a TV Series about pirates so he said we can go see the sets and the huge pirate ships that they use. I´m a little embarrassed to admit that I´m more excited about that than the 5 year old :)

   Last time I went away, I didn´t have any friends and it was really hard, but this time I made sure that I will have some contacts there. I went on couchsurfing and sent messages to everyone who lives in A Coruña, just so I can have someone to go hang out with or to get coffee with.. someone who can show me the city. One guy wrote back, gave me his number and told me to call him when I got there. He had really good reviews as far as other people who have met him/slept on his couch. I hope that he´s interesting and that we can be friends for 3 weeks :)

   Don´t worry Mom/Grandma. I´ll make sure to meet him in the light of day with lots of people around :)

9. 1 year ago 
   

   Haile

    
10. 1 year ago 
    

    This is Haile. He was adopted from Ethiopia when he was a baby, now he is 5 years old.

    He is a handful. A ball of energy that cannot be stopped. He isn´t afraid of anyone but is clearly an only child/momma´s boy. He´s sweet and loving and SO funny and of course super annoying. But thats what 5 year olds are like right?

    • Tagged:
    • Haile
     

Madrid, Spain
Au Pair for 3 children
Speaking Spanish
Trying to survive

This is a raw, unedited account of my experiences and adventures taking care of children while living in a foreign country

Wish me luck

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