Story 1
The SF Giants are going to the World Series. It’s called the World Series but it’s actually only in America. But I’m happy because the whole of San Francisco is cheering. The city atmosphere feels completely different from the day Bush got re-elected in 2004. That day was glum. The Giants might win this […]
6 year old D and I ran through the biggest park in San Francisco, ducking, climbing, hiding from “people persons”. After an intense 1 hour workout we came home only to realize I’d forgotten the house key inside the flat. Here began adventure part two.
We pressed the buzzer of the people living in the same […]
The toddler I look after dashed into a neighbour’s garage. He grabbed a football and started to run, when I stopped and persuaded the little one to inquire the boy whose ball he had in hand, if he could “borrow this please?”
The four-year old neighbour didn’t see this coming. Having two older brothers –also being […]
I guess she would be my ‘coworker’ - a Latina lady who comes and cleans the house once in a while. She and I stood around the kitchen while the little boy slept. A few days back, I lent her my kimono which she wore for Cultural Day. I had explained to her how to […]
The two year old boy I look after has developed an infatuation with Thomas the Tank Engine. He loves trains of all sorts, but he’s got a special soft spot for trains with faces. Just today, I talked to two women whose toddler boys are also obsessed with trains. “Thomas” is the first thing he […]
There was an earthquake in San Francisco this morning, magnitude 3.5, relatively small in scale yet strong enough that, when I felt the house shake, I quickly stood up from the toilet, pulled my jeans up, grabbed the little boy I nanny for and ran out of the house. I felt quite proud of myself […]
A handful of neighbourhood boys came through the door, to play with the toddler I look after. With that many 5-year-olds in the house, it didn’t take long until the otherwise peaceful living-room transformed into a galactic battle field, and with one breath of imaginative proclamation calling for “COMET WAR!” a barrage of miniature beach […]
I was to take the boy out to a museum that’s located in a park, but I couldn’t find parking so I kept driving through the greenery, looking for a patch of land to let him run like mini-Tarzan. I drove farther than I intended. Across the road I saw some kids playing, and it […]
The boy I look after is 17 months. Two words tell me how he is a true American.
The way he says bottle: “BA-LO” and water: “WA-LA”.
(I only talk to him in Japanese).
When I first nannied for them, the eldest girl was 4, the second one 2, and the third one not yet born. Now the girl is 8, the birthday boy 6, and the third one almost 4.
Theirs is a karate family; their father’s chosen path. During my recent visit I saw, just how sophisticated and […]
