Nanny gut check

We’ve had our nanny for a few months now for our 1 year old, and have had some “culture fit” discomfort (I WFH, and it’s not particularly pleasant sharing a space with her — our old nanny and I would chat casually, laugh over funny kid moments etc — here, there is a brick wall that I’ve been unable to break down over months, I suspect previously her arrangement was to stay out of the way of WFH parents as much as possible, which is really the opposite of what we support. Cautiously optimistic this will improve with time.). We’ve also had frustration with her need for major micromanagement with each developmental transition, less of an ordeal as baby gets older with less frequent transitions. Nothing major, but not a unicorn arrangement.

Cutting to today — we have older kids and divide the play space with a baby gate for baby’s safety. Keeps baby out of tiny beads, dollhouse, legos, board games — all cut and dry, not safe for a baby who puts things in their mouth. Also helps to protect our big one’s precious things safe to help their relationship.

Today, nanny was walking around the gated area holding the baby and asked me if it was fine that they played there for a bit, she’d watch. It’s rainy outside and she said baby is bored and doesn’t want to play with other (copious!! open ended!!) toys. I responded with an absolutely not, it’s not safe, and suggested she take out an open ended item like the play doctor kit, and engage baby directly in pretend play.

In my view, the one year old is not bored, she’s bored. I’m seriously in doubt of her gut judgement. Is this an overreaction? Would you have another conversation?

She’s extremely reliable, loves our baby dearly, stays off her phone, likes to keep busy, and (until today) keeps baby safe, but I’m having a hard time getting past this moment. What if I wasn’t downstairs at that moment quickly grabbing lunch?