Desperately Seeking Nanny

This goes out to all our dear friends who read this blog.

As most of you know, we've been yaya-less for almost a year now. (Note to my non-Pinoy friends, 'yaya' is what we call nannies in the Philippines.)While this deserves at least a couple of high fives, especially in a country where having 2 or 3 yayas trailing after a family and hefting shopping bags of different sizes are the norm, it can be quite nerve wracking at times. Especially when you're a work-at-home mommy.

We've tried out / auditioned 3 yayas or so but have had to let them go after the initial 2 week trial period for several reasons that read like a cross between Stephen King and a script out of Comedy Central:

1. They can't understand a word of English - not a good thing as David cannot speak Tagalog.

2. They don't care much for kids. One yaya preferred stick to housework (something unnecessary as David and I do this on our own), and more or less ignored Charly. You had to see this to believe it, but when Charly tried to be friendly or play with her, she would mostly just stare back. I know this sounds scary, but it's true. I always wondered if this particular yaya was quite right in the head.

3. They are tied to their cellphones. One would-be yaya accompanied us shopping in the houseware section and I barely turned my back for 5 minutes as I paid for some items and the next time I turned around, Charly was doing a pretty good imitation of Norman Bates and Jason, running around with a huge kitchen knife she had pulled out of the display. And where was the yaya? Why, she was standing around oblivious and texting away! Scary, but true. It would have served the yaya right if Charly had dropped the knife on her foot.

4. Another one did not use toilet paper (Now that's just wrong - if she can't clean her own butt properly, how will she clean Charly's? The word 'rotavirus' comes to mind).

5. Yet another one was afraid of heights. Not good, we live on the 18th floor. She also did not like airconditioning (Charly sweats a lot, more often than not she needs airconditioning, especially during the summer).

6. Our latest candidate went into Essences with us this weekend and instead of making sure Charly was entertained, David ended up carrying her and when we looked around for the yaya, she was at the Murad counter asking for a demo and catalogue of their skin care products. So much for keeping an eye on the baby. By the way, this yaya also asked us for an advance on her salary and took a day off within a week of joining us. Supposedly the advance was for her to be able to send money back to her parents. I'm not sure exactly how much of that advance she sent, but she did come back with a cellphone nicer than the one I am currently using.

The thing is, David and I are pretty hands-on parents. Definitely more hands-on than the average Pinoy family. Being yaya-less doesn't really faze us, nor does the fact that we don't have any maids. In fact, most of the problem probably is that these yayas and helpers are used to their employers being quite dependent on them. We have our own way of doing things and operate like a fairly well-oiled tag team when it comes to the baby. So we never just let the yaya 'do her thing'. After all, Charly is our one and only baby. Letting someone raise her in their own way is not an option. We are looking for someone proactive, who will take instructions well and work with us as a team in taking care of Charly. After all is said and done, we also want a bit of time to ourselves.

So. If any of you know of any yaya who fits that description, understands English, likes kids (and of course can take reasonably good care of them), is not glued to her cellphone, with fairly good hygiene (read: use toilet paper and take showers everyday) and are ok to live on the 18th floor, and likes dogs and is over 35 years of age (the ones younger tend to be attached to their cellphones or boyfriends or girl friends) or isn't a shopaholic who will ditch the kid the minute she enters the mall...please, please let us know!

We're not looking for Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee. Just their distant cousins.