Thursday, December 3, 2009

Small work rant

I'm up super early (5am) and I'm sure I'm going to regret it later.

So anyway, my work rant. Keep in mind that I really do like this family, I think they are wonderful but there are a few (small) things that bother me. Yesterday I was at the sink washing the dishes and M opens the cabinet below the sink (which she can do because none of them have locks) and puts the tip of the dish soap bottle in her mouth. Luckily I was standing right there to catch her before she started drinking the soap. I washed her mouth out and had her drink some water. But that makes me worry about what if I hadn't been there when she did it. I'm just glad that the soap is the worst thing they have under there. At least they don't keep other things in there. But that is my main issue, that they don't have anything baby proofed. I mean they have a few things like outlet covers and a door to the basement stairs but that is about it. She can get into any cabinet in the kitchen which is mostly annoying because she likes to go in them and pull everything out. The cabinet with all of the storage containers is a horrible mess but I'm guessing that it is only partly to do with the kids. I started to organize it one day but by the next day it was a mess again.

Another thing, they let her stand on the kitchen chairs at the table. Then she will lean forward to grab something and the chair will start to slide out from under her. Usually I try to be right there with her when she is doing this but I can't watch her every single second and she knows how to get up there on her own. Tuesday, E was in the bathroom and I heard a lot of noise so I went to check that everything was okay and just after I walked away, M had climbed up there and sure enough, fell right on her head. If her parents let her do this how am I all of a sudden supposed to stop it? I can't! The other thing that bugs me is a safety issue with E right now and I'm sure will be with M when she gets a little older; the front door. E likes to open the door and just start talking to anyone he sees out there. When I say talk, I really mean yell. Yesterday he was standing in the open doorway yelling over and over "do you like our candy cane lights?" It was a little funny and I know he was talking to a neighbor, but it makes me worry about if some stranger looking to pick up kids showed up. He would just start talking to them. He is a nice boy and usually pretty friendly which is great but I think we need to start talking to him about strangers. Anyway, that wasn't exactly where I wanted to go with the door issue. My issue is that he will just go out there whenever. Yesterday he walked out there with no coat or shoes on. It was after he was yelling out the door. I told him to close the door. I heard the door close and then heard him outside yelling. I went to look and sure enough he is standing out there in a t-shirt and socks. What I really worry about is if one day I am tied up doing something like changing a diaper or putting M down for a nap and he decides to go outside and wonders off. I know his parents would like to think that he would never do that but it happens. I would hate for it to happen at all but I would really hate for it to happen on my watch.

And for the last safety concern I have; chocking hazards. They don't cut M's food up small enough for her. I've seen them give her whole grapes before. Obviously when I'm there I can change that and I do but seriously, who gives their 18 month old whole grapes? This also makes her think that she can shove a ton of food in her mouth at one time. Luckily I know what to do in a situation like that and have had to do it before. I have learned that I am actually really calm when something like that happens.

Anyway, I got that off of my chest and I've now had a lot of water (I woke up because I was dying of thirst) so now maybe I can go back to sleep or at least lay down for a little bit. Then again, it is almost 6 now, I could just stay up and read or something.