She's Almost Like Mary Poppins

I found an ayi for Syd that I think (hope/pray) will work out. She's Chinese, in her 40s, married with no kids. She speaks enough English for us to obviate frustrating games of charades, although we do have to write some things down. I talk too fast for her and her accent is too thick for me to understand sometimes. She reads/writes better than she speaks. The first time she came to stay with Syd, I had to work so Tyra stayed at the apartment to keep an eye on on the ayi. Tyra said Syd freaked out when she saw the ayi and started bawling. So it was a rather traumatic introduction for Syd. The second time she came by, Syd was sleeping so I took Tyra to the airport. When I returned home, the ayi was holding Syd and she seemed to be doing ok. Atleast she didn't look like she had been crying all afternoon. The ayi mentioned that she noticed that Syd sweats a lot when she sleeps, so when she arrived on Sat, she brought Syd some cute hair scrunchies and wouldn't let me pay her back for them. She kept shaking her head and saying, "It's ok. I like baby." She said that Syd cried a bit when I left to go to the grocery store but then played just fine. I had bought Syd a Winnie the Pooh bicycle, which she just loves. It has a convenient basket in the back of the bike. She pushes it around the apartment everyday.

The ayi said that at one point on Saturday, Syd pushed the bike to the door and then grabbed the ayi's finger and led her to the door. So they went outside to play on the playground. She usually brings her shoes to me to let me know that wants to go outside.

The ayi is working for me on a part time basis right now because she is working for another family too until July 15th. I'm paying her 15 RMB an hour, which is the equivalent of US$2 an hour, for right now, and when she works for me full time, I'll pay her 2,600 RMB or US$325 per month. When Syd sleeps or is playing independently, the ayi does the dishes, the laundry, irons and cleans the house. That's Monday - Friday.

It has been great having someone clean the house every day (I mean G-R-E-A-T). But it also feels very indulgent too. But I can tell that I am going to be able to get over it very, very soon.