When Your Son Throws You Under the Bus…

I picked up Paco from school the other day so he didn’t have to go to ballet with the two girls.

He came home, did some reading, hung out with me in my office and was generally fine.

The NFO had left instructions for dinner, which is normally served around 5.15.

At 5.45, I realized I hadn’t fed him and was headed upstairs to get him set up. I knew that if he was hungry, he would have just told me.

On the way home, I saw a text from the NFO, basically saying “hey, why hasn’t the boy been fed yet?”

I saw Paco and said, ‘hey bud, let me ask you. Did you tell Mom that I hadn’t given you dinner yet?”

“Yes,” he said.

“But were you hungry?” I asked.

“Not really.”

“So, is it that you just enjoy getting me in trouble?”

He smiled.

“Yes.”

End of an Era: No more nanny

In reality, we probably waited 1 year too long in deciding that we didn’t need a nanny for our kids, but that’s beside the point.

The other day was the last day where she worked for us and she had been working for us for about 7 years.

We’d had our moments, as any employer-employee relationship would, and certainly toward the end, when I started to question the value in my mind, the emotions changed, but when she left for the last time, I got nostalgic and even a bit choked up.

Now, I’m not the most sentimental or emotional person around, but when she left, I had two realizations.

The first-the kids are growing up. You know that, of course, but sometimes the reminders are jarring.

Second-and more powerful-was a profound sense of appreciation for her efforts. For many years, she was an instrumental force in caring and nurturing these babies into the children they have become. She had reinforced the NFO and my values and served as our proxy.

When they look back on their lives, they may not remember her, but it’s pretty powerful to think about how important she was to their lives.

I am feeling a true sense of gratitude for her efforts…and, yes, I wrote her a note to tell her so.

4 Year Old Practical Joker…

The other day, I was home with Paco and Nadia. We were expecting a friend (one they both know) to stop by and pick up a package.

I ran downstairs and said to Paco “If David shows up, you can open the door for him.”

When I came upstairs, Paco was standing at the door.

“Is David here?” I asked.

“No,” he said, “but I heard a knock.”

We both walked away.

Then, we heard another knock, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nadia scampering into the other room, hide behind the couch and start laughing.

After I confronted her, she fessed up.

“I knocked on the door and was hiding!!!”

Nanny Taxes...To Pay or Not to Pay?

A few weeks ago, while struggling and feeling frustrated with the whole process of preparing tax return info for our nanny, I put out a status update on Facebook:

looking for people who pay their Nanny as W-2, want to comapre  wages/benefits...come on, I can't be the ONLY one ;-)

Well, it turns out I'm not the only one, which was nice to see. I didn't feel like a complete idiot.

But, what was interesting were some of the perspectives that arose (on both sides) as to why one should or shouldn't pay the taxes.

You can read some (couldn't get everything in the screen shot) of the comments written on the status itself here in the graphic, but also received more than one email on the other side of the equation. Here's one of them:

Jer,


I'm actually quite shocked that all of those people actually pay taxes to their nanny. I would have wagered that out of your 8000 friends, the 50 or so that had nannies, my guess would have be 5%.

I would never actually say it in public but I was nodding, yes Jeremy you are the only one that pays nanny taxes. Maybe its the number of illegals around or that my wife doesn't work so we have a very part time nanny but it never occured to me to do it on a legit basis.

Maybe its because I will never run for office but my nanny, housekeeper, gardener....Straight Cash, homey!

 Open to comments and your thoughts on this one...

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