Charlie asks for “sunbabies” at lunch during my first week as the nanny. I don’t know what he means. I am already failing at this job. What are sunbabies? He just repeats it. “Sunbabies.” I look desperately at his four-year-old brother Evan and I ask him what Charlie means. Evan shrugs. Then I beg Evan for help. With exaggerated patience, he asks his two-year-old brother what sunbabies are. Giving up on us and taking matters into his own tiny, chubby hands, Charlie walks to the refrigerator and pulls out a carton of strawberries. “Sunbabies,” he declares. Of course they are.
Elizabeth Gatten Fenley is a nanny, her source of levity, love, and writing material. Elizabeth shares her joyfully empty nest with six delightfully boisterous dogs.