What's for dinner?

Because I work full time, I rely on having a nanny/babysitter to be with my children in the afternoons when they come home from school or camp. I already suffer from working mom's guilt, so nothing is more important than having the right person to take care of my kids when I can't be there. If you've read my previous posts, you'll know that I haven't had the greatest luck with nannies and my expectations are constantly being lowered. Nannies have become the bane of my existence. When we were hiring our first nanny almost seven years ago, we of course wanted Mary Poppins....a chipper loving type who would help the kids do homework while whipping up a nutritious meal. By the time we got to nanny #5 two years ago, our job description was basically "No pedafiles or convicted criminals, must drive and be able to operate a microwave."

When we recently found ourselves having to hire someone new, I vowed to raise my standards once again and hope for the best. We were lucky to find a lovely woman, recommended through a friend of a friend, who fit the bill in every way. Except she only speaks Spanish. I decided that a simple language barrier wasn't enough to stop me from getting my dream nanny....and how great that my kids would be exposed to and potentially learn another language! So, thanks to a very cool iPhone translator app that I'm using to help with dinner instructions (para la cena!) and otherwise communicate, we survived our first week. (My husband has also downloaded the same app, but he uses it to figure out how to say dirty words in Spanish.) She's not a 100% comfortable in my kitchen yet, and we almost had an "exploding pea" incident as she was learning how to use my microwave last Thursday, but for the most part, things are working out.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll be able to concinar el pollo y arroz blanco esta noche, so wish us luck!