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Washington State Nanny On Her Life As An Essential Worker During The Epidemic

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Essential workers come in many varieties. They go to work in all kinds of settings. In Washington state, we caught up with a woman whose job has expanded.

ANDREA SKORHEIM: It's now 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning here in Everett, Wash. I'm Andrea Skorheim. And I work as a full-time nanny.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SKORHEIM: My mom boss, as I call her, the mom boss is working from her room with a locked door and a little sign that either flips to open or closed. Dad boss is in the makeshift office in the family RV in the driveway.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SKORHEIM: I'll show up to work, and the kids will be eating their breakfast, half-way dressed, with their tablets on. And then I'll just help the kids get dressed. We turn off the tablets and we go outside.

This is the best part of our day, which is being outside, playing on bicycles and in the stroller. We're just chasing each other on bikes.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SKORHEIM: Once we come back is when it can be kind of challenging. They have this compulsion to beat each other up. So it's just keeping them off of each other is challenging.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SKORHEIM: It's 12 o'clock now. I am rocking the littlest kiddo (ph) to sleep after just giving her her bottle. This is kind of the only part of my day that's - that resembles the job I initially signed up for.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SKORHEIM: It's 2 o'clock. The big kids just had a chocolate cake snack. I took the last bite. And then it occurred to me that you can't eat off someone else's fork in corona. So much for washing my hands.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SKORHEIM: It's 4:19 on Tuesday, getting out of work a little bit early, which is nice. And just a little reflection. Today was one of those days that make me love my job. I mean, the progress with just kind of the flow of our day and everybody's moods. And, I mean, in four weeks of being on a new schedule, some of the hard work is really starting to pay off, which is awesome.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KELLY: The journey of an essential worker, nanny Andrea Skorheim in Everett, Wash. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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