I’m a Mommy Too!

well, it’s finally happening: nate is going to start day care.  we’re going to visit tomorrow morning, but we’re already pretty sure how it will all work out.  it’s around the corner, and nate’s favorite friend goes there, as well as a few other kids we know from the neighborhood.

there’s lots of complicated nanny stuff going on, but this change has been coming for a while, and it seems like a good time for the transition.

so, daycare.  i’ve gradually gotten used to the idea, but i’m so nervous that nervous is not even an adequate word.  i keep thinking about how he is going to take a nap on his little mat, when he’s used to being cuddled to sleep.  and what if he doesn’t feel like eating the lunch i packed him?  he’s used to eating at home, and having choices.  what if the teachers don’t understand his own little language?  how would they know that “fie” means fire truck and “heen” means ice cream?

it’s exhausting being a mother.  the good news is that we’ve heard wonderful things about this place, and know several families who are happy with it.  one mom we’re friendly with told us that they were planning on bringing their (very attached) little girl just when they really needed it, but they bring her pretty much every day, because she loves it so much.  you can’t beat that for a glowing review!

last week d got nate’s stomach bug, and today it was me.  it’s been a miserable 24 hours, but everyone says it’s a 24 hour thing, so i’m hoping i’ll be feeling better tomorrow.  around midnight it became clear that i needed to call out of work today, so i spent the day in bed.  barely slept last night, so i slept until the afternoon!

nate’s vocabulary seems to be growing really fast.  he’s finally using words that aren’t nouns (besides no), and he’s able to make his needs known.  the other morning he went to his little cupboard and pulled out one of his plates, handed it to me and said “food.”  then he went over to his chair and said “up,” and once i had put his yogurt in front of him, he requested a “spoon.”  i felt for so long like he was just really frustrated, not being able to tell us what he wanted, and now we’re able to communicate a lot more, although he’s got his own pronunciation that mostly just d and i understand!

also, yesterday he blew a kiss at his friend emmy (his own nickname for our friends’ little two year old), which we have never taught him.  no idea how he learned to do that, i should maybe ask his nanny?  whom he calls daddy (her name could be understood to sound like daddy, i guess).  she has taken on another kid his age this semester, which i think will end up being good for him.  he takes his time at everything it seems, and his new friend will probably give him a little push.  she’s really sweet and good natured, and they already seem to enjoy making each other laugh.

i really didn’t mean to disappear on a bad note with that last post!  it’s just holiday… stuff.  same old stuff as the rest of america, i imagine — parties, money stress, travel, shopping, not much down time.

this weekend was a wonderful exception to the holiday stress: we got probably two feet of snow yesterday!  it’s pretty rare in philly, so i feel kind of lucky.  it snowed yesterday from before we woke up until after we went to bed, and today it’s still very quiet around our neighborhood.  i had a fantasy of taking nate out in the snow and him being delighted, but the reality was, it was really cold and windy and he couldn’t walk in it.  not that fun, but today when we went out, i put him on my back, and that was so much better than when we tried to push the stroller over the tracks in the street, or carried him.

nate is growing up at a startling pace.  yes, he’s growing physically — taller, heavier.  but even more exciting is that he’s understanding most everything (when we’re talking to him) and imitating words, and building his vocabulary.  i can no longer count the number of words he says, which is kind of exciting to me, and he imitates new words all the time, even if he doesn’t then immediately acquire them.

among other things, we got nate a doll for hanukkah.  it’s just a soft plush doll with a pink dress and three strands of yellow hair, but when he opened it, he immediately yelled “BEEEE!” (baby) and hugged her.  when i put him to bed that night, he pulled me up from where i was laying on my pillow, and laid the doll there with her head on my pillow.  yesterday a friend was reading a story to him and the friend’s daughter, and he called for his BEE! to hear the story, too.  there are some beginning signs of imaginary play, he hasn’t done much of that before.

as he gets more words and matures, it’s interesting how his personality really remains the same, although of course it develops.  he is still an interesting mix of outgoing and shy, charms the pants off every waitress and cashier in philadelphia.  he’s incredibly sweet, and very focused, with a long attention span.  he’s open to different people playing with him, but he’s slow to really open up to people, and he makes it pretty clear when he really trusts someone.  watching him grow and change is just mesmerizing.

so that’s the update on our guy.  his hair is particularly gorgeous right now, having grown out from a really short haircut.  i think he has a sort of emo/bedhead look going.