The other problem with unlit streets is that, try as you might, you just can't find your baby's discarded dummy (pacifier). This happened just now and necessitated a sizable detour as we retraced our steps, but alas no joy. We have had large numbers of these Avent dummies brought over from the UK but they all eventually disappear into the ether. Once, in Bom Retiro, we did manage to find the needle in the haystack, after forensically scrutinising every inch of sidewalk in a two-block radius. But today our luck ran out. Which was doubly problematic since Sam is going through a nightmare patch of teething as, I assume, his incipient upper front teeth begin to emerge and join the two lower ones.
Tonight's last leg of our walk down and up the local hills was accompanied by the kind of desperate, disconsolate and, let's be honest, sometimes demonic crying that can drive Sam's chauffeurs out of their minds. This is in addition to his increasingly manic explorations at home, which mean that his once serene skull is now getting buffeted this way and that, as he invariably overstretches himself and faces the unpleasant consequences. Every corner of every table is now imbued with the potential for bloodcurdling horrors and, jumping every time Sam makes a sudden move, I dream of mountains of play dough or plasticine with which to smooth away those lethal right-angles.
Perhaps with this growing paranoia in mind, we dropped in on one of the local kindergartens and had a quick tour. For £1000 a month, you get 7am to 7pm babysitting and a so-so collection of baby and toddler amenities. Yet as so often here, whether in a rich or poorer area, it all felt underwhelming, lacking a sense of quality. What would you get for £1000 a month in the UK, US or Europe ? For that matter, what would you get for free ? It's not a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely curious to know.
Further down the street, in a conveniently located kosher store, we were told there is a Jewish kindergarten nearby that is very good and charges just £400 a month or possibly less if you give the Rabbi a good sob story. Sadly, we almost certainly wouldn't be considered kosher enough.
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ReplyDeleteGod. I'll just go and stand in the Pedant's Corner now.
ReplyDeleteExcellent proofreading Amanda ! And lightning fast too. Obrigado !
ReplyDeleteThis blog loves pedants ! Keep it coming.
ReplyDeleteI just removed the comment. Prego.
ReplyDeleteWell, let me reinstate it for the record: I wrote Advent, perhaps thinking of Christmas or a management consultancy, and you wisely and helpfully corrected it to Avent, a brand of dummy which costs considerably more in Brazil than elsewhere.
ReplyDelete£1000 a month is quite reasonable for an under one year old for 7-7. Here in the outer reaches of NW London, you'd probably be looking in the region of £1600 per month - and the hours would 8-6 for a nursery. Childminders are a bit less (in their own homes).
ReplyDeleteLive out Nannies can cost from £75-80 up to £120 net per day (or even more in central London), although this obviously depends on the nanny's age & experience!
Economies of scale apply to nannies but not childminders/nurseries (ie more children included in nanny rates but not the others!)
The joys of parenting! Xxx
Sorry the abOve comment is from your London based cousin who has had too much experience on the childcare front!!!
ReplyDeleteEnjoying the blog and hoping you'll be back soon so that the little man can meet his cousins xxx
Wonderful to hear from you Giselle ! Thx for the info, which makes sobering reading. Hope to see you all soon. x
ReplyDeleteOut of interest, are SP dummies not up to scratch and/or horrifically expensive? Have you tries selotaping cut up halves of table tennis balls to the edges of the coffee table?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the table tennis ball tiip. Now, where to find them ? Brazilian-made dummies that we have bought are rubbish.
ReplyDeleteAnd not cheap either,
ReplyDelete