Mph. re: Dude -- I think it's both. She did eventually read out a passage from one book, and it was clear that she had the basics, but her accent was stronger reading than speaking, and she stumbled on pronounciation of a lot of the less common words with awkward spellings. It also sounded like she was scanning ahead, but running into problems with that. So I think she didn't get it why she should move out of her comfort zone when "he couldn't really want that anyway." (she didn't say that, I'm just guessing about her thinking)
Austin: The difficulty is that we're swamped as it is, and that's a tall order. We were trying for that, but ran out of time when I got really sick for a week, and needed someone quick.
Ok, re: Dude again: I don't think she quite understands ME when I say "explain why," or "read." I think she thinks she _is_ explaining why/reading in the context of a 2 yr old. When I asked him to do up his zipper (using his name), she took it as an instruction to HER. When I asked her to give him 10 min and 5 min warnings about a change in activities, she did, but the times were nonsensicle, the five minute warning was 10, and the 4 min warning was, literally, about 30 seconds. I'm pretty sure she saw the distinction between her "We're going soon" and my "It will take me 10 mins" as being a the-words-he's-used-to thing, and not an actual more-information thing. She has the kind of confidence that makes people good with little kids. But it also seems to make it hard for her to "Get" stuff that she doesn't expect.
MagnaSky: Yeah, you're right, this won't work unless it actually, like, works. Ugh. Ok. I needed that to be said. I'll try talking to her this aft, and see how it goes from there.
Maybe it's just a bad fit and we really should try someone else next week. Maybe I can write out the ground-rules, and then when they come I'll have a script for myself to begin with. I'm feeling a little better now, so maybe also I'll be more on the ball this time. Blarg. I kinda knew this would happen. All the babysitters who can actually handle him either have PhDs and an unusual degree of respect for other people's opinions or are that one girl from the giftie HS
I've been trying to convince myself it's just 'cause those are who our friends are, but... I actually have seen this happen before. A lot.
Preschool would be better. Arg. Gah.
FRUSTRATED.
-Mich.
PS: thanks for the quick responses, that's exactly what _I_ needed this morn
. More advice always appreciated.
