Au Pair: Maria Fernanda Saenz Castillo from Costa Rica
Host Family: Rubel Family in Georgia
Our au pair is heaven-sent. Fer joined our family in May of 2010 when our daughter was 18 months old and our second child was on the way. From the minute she arrived, we knew we would love her forever. Fer is THE "Mary Poppins" of the 21st century. She has the common sense needed to deserve our utmost trust. She is a loving, caring, fun, creative, intelligent young woman. She puts our children first at all times, and always thinks of new ways to stimulate them developmentally, socially, linguistically, artistically, and physically. Our playroom is donned with paper plates turned into farm animals, cutouts of colored balloons with Spanish words for each color, talking stuffed animals, and chalkboards where Fer and our daughter draw with creativity together. Fer has taught our daughter colors, numbers, words, and songs in Spanish. In her first week here, she used her own teaching supplies (which she had brought from home) to make puppets and egg carton caterpillars! She made green jello when she was working on the color "verde" with our daughter, a gingerbread house for the holidays, and an arts and crafts "center" in our basement. She is tireless. She takes our kids on long walks to the park and story time at book stores and structures her days with the kids so that the kids are stimulated but also learn routine and reliability. We love Fer and wish everyone could have an au pair as wonderful as she is. The truth is - she is more than our au pair - she is forever part of our family.
