Siinne pereema lisas mind aasta au pairi konkursile ja siin on kiri , mille ta minu kohta kirjutas.
Heli Vaher- Au Pair of the Year
What do you call an angel that moves into your home one-day and within weeks has children, dancing, parents laughing and a busy house of three girls(four years and younger) running like a well oiled machine? An Au Pair from Estonia named Heli.
Our family picked up Heli at the bus stop early September and from the first hour she was in our company , she fit in immediatly. My oldest, Lily is 4 years old and the babysitter we had before did not pay much attention to her. This changed instantly. Heli came off the bus with a little doll that she had made Lily at the training school. Heli and Lily became instant friends and more.People ask Lily what her babysitter`s name is and she replies that she doesn`t have a babysitter; her sister`s name is Heli. Heli`s first day with the kids alone was amazing. I came home from work with the twins(at that time 12 months olds) content because they had been for a long walk in the morning while Lily was at school. Lily couldn`t wait to tell me about her day and show me the "rock museum" her and Heli made, which included rocks they had gathered from the ark, painted and labelled from places like Mars, Disney World and Estonia. My husband and I were amazed but though maybe it was a new sitter trying to make a good impression. How wrong we were- it was just a typical day with Heli. Here it is almost Christmas and Heli continues to surprise us with the activities the children and her do on a daily basis. Heli has even arranged for the "Estonian Christmas Elf" to visit our home nightly and leave treats for good girls. An Estonian tradition my children have joyfully embraced.
As a Mom and a realistic adult, i have never expected my babysitters(we never had an Au Pair before) to maintain a clean home. As mentioned earlier, I have a four-year-old girl, and twin(now 15 month old) girls (Siena and Taylor). I liked the idea that the "au-pair" would do the cildren`s laundry, make their beds, and fix lunch for them but never thought anyone would have extra time to do anything but watch the cildren. I never had that before! Can you imagine how excited I wasday after day when I came home from work and the house was clean- no she doesn`t clean the toilets or windows-(as this would actually make me feel quilty and ashamed), but there are no toys on the floor, the sink is empty, counters clean, just amazing! She actually makes me look bad because it doesn`t look that way on the weekends when Heli is off. All of this and thechildren are happy too. The twins actually run to her when she comes into the kitchen in the morning , they are so excited to see her.
On a serious note, I am going through one the hardest times in my life. My mother was diagnosed with stage 4-lung cancer at the end of October. Unfortunatelythe disease has progressed rapidly and I am now struggling with working full-time, three small chilldren and trying to do everything possible for my Mom who lives four hours away. I can honestly tell you, I could not go through this without Heli. All of sudden I don`t have an Au Pair at all, I have an older daughter thet helps her family in anyways she can. heli`s 45 hours is basically 8am-4pm Monday-Friday and one night a week. Yet without asking, Heli can sense I had a rough day and has dinner ready for me when i get home. She instinctively knows when to occupy the children because emotionally, i simply can`t be the best Mom. She has chipped in to help my husband when I´m taking care of my Mom. This isn`t the act of an Au Pair or even a friend; this is a valued family member that we all cherish.
We had the pleasure of spending our first Thanksgiving with Heli this past November. it was Heli`s first Thanksgiving ever, but we truly felt like she was a blessing sent to our family. i can`t imagine Heli not being with us, but we simply do not. No matter what the future has for Heli, we know one thing for sure; we will always have an Estonian family member somewhere in this world that we will never forget. Heli is truly amazing and deserves to be "The Au Pair of the Year". She definitely has earned the trip.
