Prepping for an Au Pair

I’m in Day 2 of full-blown Daddy Daycare.  I wouldn’t say that I’m getting my butt kicked, but I have to admit that it is a pretty darn tough job.  With one girl nearly 4 years-old and another nearly 1 year-old, they have very different needs.  Meeting both of their needs simultaneously is nearly impossible.  Trips out of the house seem to be the best thing going, however.  Our baby simply likes riding around in her stroller and taking in the scenery, so a trip to the park or a walk to the Post Office is pretty entertaining for her.  Our oldest daughter likes these trips, too, particularly if she has a vested interest in it – mailing a letter she wrote, playing in the playground, or shopping for ingredients to that cookie recipe she and I will make tomorrow.

While both girls are down for a nap I am filling out the online forms for an international au pair to live with us next year, and I’m wondering . . . If I, as Dad to these girls who has known them since the day they were born, am having a hard time balancing their needs and wants, what will a 20 year-old from Moldova do?

Yes, Moldova.  Go ahead and Google it.  I had to.  Moldova is a small former Soviet-bloc country sandwiched between Romania to the west and Russia to the east (I must admit – that wasn’t my first guess.  I thought Moldova was one of those small, Liechtenstein-type countries crammed somewhere in Europe or on an island in the Mediterranean).  It’s definitely more interesting than, say, Germany.  Nothing against Germany, but c’mon.  Moldova is much more mysterious.

So, we’ve been given a preliminary match of a young university student from Moldova who has childcare experience both in her family and while at the university.  Sure, she learned to drive in the Moldovan countryside only a year ago, but she can’t be worse than your typical DC driver . . .

We’re excited about having an au pair, and the preliminary match they gave us seems pretty good.  After my Daddy Daycare experience I will greatly appreciate the work she will do with our children.  And perhaps, because of this experience, my children will know more about Modova than I did.