Hey! We’ve been MIA for the majority of the year. We’ve been spending time focusing on growing and learning and sleeping. 😅 (Haha is this nanny, the only one who’s tired!?) 

I wanted to take the time to wrap our year, and of course to keep our readers updated. It’s been a busy year for us! Our year has been packed to the brim with play dates, beach trips, and bumps and bruises. C is now 21 months and is as bright as can be! He is filled with energy, a growing appetite, and a voracious need to make a clean house, dirty. 

Our summer months were spent digging in sand boxes, and peering underwater in pools with sticky fingers covered in popsicles and chic-fil-a sauce. C’s parents joined an athletic center, and C and I spent many a day in the baby pool. In addition to the pool, we visited our local park, and splash pads. On days that were just too hot- we would spend the early morning going for walks/ at the park and spend the steamy afternoons inside. 

Mid-summer, I accompanied C and his family to the Outer Banks. (I’ll be sure to write a post about being a travel nanny and what to expect.) Our trip to the beach… was a success!! We spent a week in a packed house of 22 cousins, uncles, and aunts. I roomed with two other nannies and my primary focus was Cooper. We had a great time playing in the water and collecting seashells. Towards the end of the trip, C and his cousins contracted hand, foot, and mouth disease. (Yuck!) C and his parents were troopers and as a team, we got past the virus, pretty quickly and easily.

In August, C turned 18 months- and the fun began!! 18 months old is my favorite age. At 18 months, C was able to say so MANY words and to learn so many skills! Since then, we have been going nonstop; working on our communication skills and our interpersonal skills. It’s been a little challenging at times to instruct C on how to interact with his playmates and adults. Nonetheless, we’ve been rising to the challenge. 

December started slowly and has slowly gained speed. Our last two weeks have been spent furiously crafting and perfecting our Christmas gifts. This year we gifted C’s parents and grandparents, with a salt clay ornament. We imprinted the salt clay ornament with C’s handprint and baked the ornaments for a few hours. Afterwards I painted C’s handprint to resemble Santa. It was a lengthy craft, but it was a lot of fun! 

…And that’s a wrap for 2016!! Thanks for sticking around and reading our 2016 update. Can’t wait to see you in 2017!