Everything that happened while you were out.
A rookery is a colony that raises its young in one place, together. This is where yours writes it all down: the naps, the hours, the Thursday that moved, and the forty seconds he spent negotiating over a single pea.
Coming to iPhone, Mac and the browser
Eight hours of his life happen without you.
You get three sentences at the door.
One page, and everybody on it is looking at the same one.
Good afternoon, Kate.
Denise is on the clock.
Since 8:58 this morning. Three hours forty.
Around now
Around his nap Quiet time after lunch
He does not always sleep. Lying down with a book counts.
The day so far
Library for story hour. Sat through most of it, left during the second song.
Park on Bellflower. The wobbly bridge six times, then swings for twenty minutes.
Lunch: most of the pasta, none of the peas. Negotiated one pea. Lost.
Inhaler, two puffs with the spacer. No fuss today.
Down easy, no protest.
01
Where he went
The library at ten, the park at eleven
Not a dot on a map and a shrug. The places, in words, with the times, while somebody is on the clock and only from their own phone. When a nursery sends round an exposure notice naming a place and an afternoon, you can answer it.
“1.8 miles on foot today.”
At the park on Raymondwith Denise, since 8:58 am
1.2 miles on foot today · Recorded only while clocked in, from Denise's own phone.
02
The day, logged
What he ate, what he refused, and when he slept
Meals with what was actually eaten. Diapers. Medicine, with the dose and whether there was a fuss. Naps to the minute. The word he said for the first time. And the fact that you are down to four diapers, before you find out at bath time.
“Most of the pasta, none of the peas. Negotiated one pea. Lost.”
DannyTuesday, with Denise
- clocked in
Clocked in. Kate out by nine.
- meal
Breakfast: half a banana, most of the porridge, raisins picked out first.
- diaper
Wet. Nothing unusual.
- out
Library for story hour. Sat through most of it, left during the second song.
- play
Park on Bellflower. The wobbly bridge six times, then swings for twenty minutes.
- meal
Lunch: most of the pasta, none of the peas. Negotiated one pea. Lost.
- medicine
Inhaler, two puffs with the spacer. No fuss today.
- nap
Down easy, no protest.
- nap
Up. Ninety-five minutes, a personal best this week.
- note
Said “again” properly. Then said it forty more times.
- supplies
Down to the last four diapers and half a tub of wipes.
03
Learning
The homeschoolable bits, tracked as they happen
Counting on the stairs, letters on the fridge, whose turn it is with the spade. Written down as it goes with where he is up to, so you can see the shape of it rather than hearing about it twice a year.
“Got to seven on his own, then jumped to nine. Close enough for a Tuesday.”
Dannythis month
To ten on the stairs. Got to seven alone, then jumped to nine.
Red and blue are solid. Green is anything he likes the look of.
D and A on the fridge. Found the D in his own name unprompted.
Handed the second spade over at the sandpit without being asked.
Said “again” as a whole word Recorded by Denise.
04
When it goes wrong
An incident report with a follow up on it
What happened, what was done about it, who was told and when they read it, and the thing to check tomorrow morning. Most of these end at "what happened", which is the half that helps nobody the next day.
“Check it in the morning before the Band-Aid comes off.”
One reportnothing open
What happened
Tripped on the step down to the garden and scraped his left knee. Cried for about a minute, then wanted to go straight back out.
What was done
Cleaned it, one Band-Aid, cuddle. Watched him on it the rest of the afternoon, walking normally.
Follow up
Check it in the morning before the Band-Aid comes off.
Kate told at 3:44 pm, read at 3:51 pm.
05
If it is worse than that
The numbers, with no signal and no sign-in
One red button on every screen. Hold it to call. Under it: who to reach, the inhaler and where it lives, the blood type, poison control. It works on a phone with no bars and it works before anybody has signed in.
“Blue inhaler and spacer, top shelf by the kettle.”
Reach somebody
| KateMom | 555 0148 |
|---|---|
| MikeDad | 555 0192 |
| Dr. AlvarezPediatrician | 555 0110 |
| Poison control24 hours | 800 222 1222 |
What they need to know
- Asthma. Blue inhaler and spacer, top shelf by the kettle.
- No known allergies.
- Blood type O positive.
06
Two people, one Friday
Asked, taken, confirmed. In that order
Post a shift and the first to take it gets it. Ask one person and nobody else can take it until she has answered, so it is not a race she has to win on her phone. Close to the day it becomes a question rather than an announcement.
“Anita took it, eleven minutes ago.”
Friday 5 September, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Kate has a thing that cannot move.
Anita took it took it 11 minutes ago
ConfirmSend back
Asked of Denise, not answered
Nobody else can take it until she answers, so it is not a race.
Next week
| Mon 1 | Denise | 1:00 – 4:00 | confirmed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 2 | Denise | 1:00 – 4:00 | confirmed |
| Wed 3 | Denise | 1:00 – 4:00 | confirmed |
| Thu 4 | Anita | 9:00 – 2:00 | asked |
| Fri 5 | Open | 9:00 – 2:00 | open |
07
The money
One number, on the screen it is paid from
Hours become a week, a week becomes an amount, and the amount is the same on her phone as on yours. Approve it, mark it paid, export the year. Overtime is worked out once and shown everywhere, which is most of the argument gone.
“Two hours over on Wednesday, already counted at time and a half.”
Outstanding$168.00
| DeniseWeek of 24 Aug | 15h | $420.00 | paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnitaThu 28 Aug | 5h | $140.00 | paid |
| DeniseMon 1 to Wed 3 Sep | 9h | $252.00 | approved |
| AnitaThu 4 Sep | 5h | $168.00 | to approve |
Two hours over on Wednesday, already counted at time and a half.
08
The house itself
Everything you would otherwise be texted about
The wifi, the door code behind a tap, the museum card, the library number, the back gate that sticks in the damp. Written once by the household, there at the moment somebody is standing in front of the gate.
“Sticks in the damp. Lift and push, do not pull.”
Kept for whoever is standing in it
Memberships
Family, up to four. Free parking under the building.
Danny's card. Story hour Tuesdays at ten.
House notes
Sticks in the damp. Lift and push, do not pull.
Recycling goes out Tuesday night, not Wednesday morning.
09
The handover
The end of a shift, written down
The whole day in five lines, handed to whoever is taking over, with the thing that needs flagging on the front. Nobody reconstructs an afternoon from a wet sock, and nobody has to remember to mention the inhaler.
“Down to four diapers. I have put wipes on the list too.”
Denise to Kate4:02 pm · read at 4:06 pm
- With him 8:58 am to 4:00 pm.
- Napped 12:40 to 2:15, went down easy.
- Ate most of both meals, refused the peas.
- Inhaler at 12:35, two puffs, no fuss.
- The scrape from Thursday looks clean and dry.
Down to four diapers. I have put wipes on the list too.
I have read this
Everyone reads the same page.
What the household sees about a caregiver, that caregiver sees about themselves, in the same words. It is a shared record rather than a report, which is why nobody has to take anybody's word for anything.
Questions people actually ask
Who is it for?
One household and the people it employs to help raise its children. A nanny, a sitter, two of them, a nanny share. No marketplace, no agency, and nobody is being algorithmically matched with anybody, which we consider a feature.
Is it hard to set up?
You add a person and they get a link. There is no password to invent, no seat license to configure and no onboarding call. If it takes more than an evening something has gone wrong and we would like to hear about it.
What if the person helping us is family?
Then leave the money parts switched off. Hours, rates and agreements are all optional, and a grandmother has never once required a timesheet in order to read about her grandson’s afternoon.
What do I actually install?
It runs in a browser today, on a laptop or a phone, with nothing to install. The iPhone app is coming, a Mac app after it, and the browser version keeps doing everything either of them does rather than becoming the poor relation.
What happens to our record?
It is yours. Hours export as a file whenever you ask, and a childhood does not become somebody else's asset because a subscription lapsed.
Can we use it for more than one household?
Not yet, and that is the thing being built now. Say hello and you will hear when it opens.
Room in the rookery,
just not for everyone yet.
Invite only while it is one household and a short list of others. Leave an address and you go on the waitlist, which is a real list with real people on it rather than a form that goes nowhere.