Edinborough Park in Edina, MN

Received Thursday, January 22, 2009

Physical description of caregiver: Early 20's is my guess. She has long brown hair, which she had down. She was wearing a gray fleece hoodie and jeans. She must be planning a wedding as she was engrossed with a wedding book by The Knot.

Physical description of involved child/children: I heard her yell out Vivienne Amelia when it was time to go to the open gym area. Vivienne is about 2-2.5 years old, short blonde hair (very slight wave). She was wearing a pink dress with a dark pink flower border along the end. She had on tights and pink shoes. Your son is about 13-15 mos. old. She called him Jack. He was wearing a dark green with gray stripes Ralph Lauren polo, jeans, and has strawberry blonde hair.

Address or venue of observed incident: Edinborough Park, Edina, MN (indoor park)

Date and time of incident: Around 10:30am on January 21, 2009

Detailed description of what you witnessed: I am about 99.9% positive that this is the same girl I witness neglect the little girl over a year ago! It was definitely the same little girl, and looking back at the picture I took of the nanny (I searched for my first letter I e-mailed in my sent file), it does look like her, but it's hard to tell as she was texting on her cell at the time in one and had her back to the play area in the other.

I first noticed the little girl when she came out of Adventure's Peak play area. She looked very familiar to me, and then I realized why. I watched Vivienne as she approached her nanny sitting about 3-4 feet from me, down one bench level. The nanny was busy reading a wedding book by The Knot. Vivienne complained that her tummy was hurting. The nanny replied something along the lines of, "Oh. Your stomach hurts?" Vivienne nodded and the nanny took out a large ziploc bag of Goldfish crackers, not putting away her book. As she handed them to her, she said, "Don't give them to Jack. He lost his snack privledge today because he threw one on the floor earlier." I thought this was odd, but figured Jack must be an older brother. Well, Vivienne ate one, and then the nanny took a small handful, and took the bag away, saying, "It feels better now." When she said no, she handed it back, let her take one, and then this little boy, who couldn't have been more than 15 mos. old (I really think he was more like 12-13 mos. old, fairly small, but a good walker), walked up and tried to get them. She said, "No, Jack." At this point my mouth hit the floor. I don't really understand how an infant could lose a snack privledge? Anyways, she put the bag away, and told them to go play. She returned to her book.

She wasn't interactive with your children for the hour that we were in the Adventure's Peak play area. Vivienne was playing away in the park, which was fine, but Jack was left wandering around by himself. He was carrying around an empty sippy cup, trying to drink from it. He was climbing up and down the stairs, playing with the trash can, opening outlet covers.

She then moved them into the gym area, and again, let Jack just wander, while she kept her nose in her book. Vivienne would have been fine to wander, but Jack should have had a close eye on him. Edinborough Park gets extremely busy, with many preschoolers; there are balls, push chairs, and ride ons. The kids are constantly running into one another or getting hit by stray balls. He was knocked over a few times, not that his nanny noticed.

Just like my last report of this nanny, I realize that this isn't necessarily abuse, but I do question the nanny's motive behind the 'no snack' rule for such a young child who wouldn't even be able to realize what he did wrong to be punished. I question her lack of interest in watching your children. I think that they deserve much better.

Description of vehicle, bag, stroller that may aid in identifying involved caregiver: She had a light blue and yellow beach bag type of bag. Open on top. It had the letter 'K' on it. Your daughter had a pink and green Avent sippy. Your son had a red Nuby straw sipper.