Scenes from Halloween

Certainly the first Halloween is more for the parents. Lord knows what Cece made of her costume. I think she found the Huggy Bear style hat a bit annoying as it kept falling her eyes. The rest she probably figured was yet another attempt by her parents to cover her in luscious, plush padding to avoid any bumps and bruises as she begins to become mobile. I think I’ll just let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

The last one shows some of her friends at school (unfortunately I missed her buddy Jackson who was the most adorable guitar). She had a Halloween parade on Friday. She found it totally befuddling. And Lola was a banana this year (all Lola costumes over the years courtesy of her nutty Aunt and Uncle, in case you had the idea we were crazy dog people).

Four Months

Dear Cecilia-

This last month has been full of big changes for all of us.  Your Dad and I went back to work and after some last minute (stressful) changes we enrolled you in a school down the street.  Somehow, like the word playpen,  daycare is almost taboo and carries some hidden stigma in today’s parenting culture. Anyway, the school is brand new and you were the only baby there for the first two weeks. It was like they were waiting for you and your sunny disposition to hang out with them while we were at work. Talk about individual attention! I’m not sure who was spoiled more, you or the teachers.

You instantly caught the hearts of everyone at the school. When we would come to pick you up at the end of the day they would gush about you and tell us how lucky we were to have such a sweet baby. Your father was a bit embarrased by the whole thing and mumbled about paying them a pot of gold each month to say such things, but we both agreed, payola or no, there was no denying you were a really sweet baby. You were named infant of the month for August. Granted, you had a one in three shot, but it’s good to see you setting high standards for yourself early on!

Your teachers love to do art projects with you and our refrigerator that once held coupons, Red Sox schedules and recipes is now filled with your artwork.  We have pictures of corn, watermelon, and popcorn all done with your footprints.  There are also lobsters, clown fish, and bumblebees made with your tiny hands and toes. We’re not sure if you enjoy these projects or not, but you certainly enjoying splashing in the water to clean up. At home, the running faucet during bathtime now fascinates you  and you spend most of the time trying to catch or grab the water and giving us funny ‘wha happened’ looks when it runs through your fingers.

This month you’ve also started to recognize some songs. Your current favorite song is the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” with full hand pantomine. You can’t seem to get enough of that stubborn arachnid and his water spout.

Probably our favorite development this month has been your giggle fits. There is no rhyme or reason to what sets you off, sometimes it’s when one of us enters the room, sometimes it’s the sound of a voice. Sometimes it’s the fairy dust, but everytime it cracks us up. The world truly needs more baby laughter.

As far as we know you also like animals (I couldn’t imagine having a daughter who didn’t). At home, you’ve started to take an interest in the furry beast that keeps plopping down next to your head. We’re working on gentle petting, not grabbing for two fistfuls of fur. Luckily Lola is very patient with her new adopted ‘puppy’ and tolerates you to an extreme. On one errand, we visited a local farm and while the fat billy goat gave you a start, you like watching the the clucking chickens run around the coop.

Every day you seem to get bigger and being back at work has quickly made both your Father and I recognize how valuable it is to spend time together as a family. Cecilia, even though you were born only four months ago you are already so full of life.

Love,
Mom & Dad

Stress Ball

Psst. Cece, I’ll let you in on a little secret. As you know, your mother and I had to go back to work recently. You’ll have to trust me that we didn’t do it voluntarily. I could make up songs, read books and take naps with you all day long. Especially the naps. Unfortunately, the bills and the mortgage payment don’t  go on FMLA leave too. Sad, but true.

Part of our daily commute involves a rather unpredictable and rather unreliable piece of public transportation. Delays and cryptic excuses are more the norm than the exception. You know that face you see on one or both of us when Gremlins take over your body around eight each night and cause you to ratchet up the screaming to jet engine levels? Your mother gets that face at least four times a week because of the train. Her eyes blaze with a hatred that could melt the tracks. (There’s an excuse they haven’t used!) It’s not healthy. But I’ve found a temporary solution until our home based widget business makes us millions while we take those naps.

I never truly understood the power of diversion until I flashed a photo of you at your Mother during one of those moments when steam was leaking out of her ears like Yosemite Sam. Now I know why people tuck pictures of their kids into the cellophane of cigarette packs. Pow! One look at that photo moved the needle out of the red. I’m not saying it will get you out of any groundings in ten years, but it may knock a few days off. Cuteness apparently does have some medicinal value. Here, feel free to use one of these:

The Return to Work

How could three months possibly go so quickly? Since Cecilia was born, the days seem to fly by with diaper changes, soothing sessions, feedings, crying, bathing, and bedtime.  Then we wake up and do it all over again.   During it all, my return to work date always seemed to loom over my head.  I have always wanted to be a working mother but there are definite advantages and disadvantages to being one.  Finally at three months, Cecilia has become much more interactive and wants to see everything that is going on around her.  She squeals with delight at our songs and stories, she watches us whenever we come into or leave a room and she yawns with us when its time to go to bed.  So just when she is now becoming the little person, its time for Mike and I to go back to work.  It seems unfair.

Then there is the daycare situation.  Personally, I don’t like the idea of passing my child off to someone else to “educate” them.  Something feels very wrong about it.  This week we had a daycare issue where our original choice fell through and we had to scramble to find a new place.  The new school is down the street and the people there seem very nice.  However, I still don’t feel that any place is good enough for Cecilia.  So now it is time to go back to work.  I am hoping that once I start work again that I will be able to find the balance that so many Moms are forced to seek.  One day at a time is going to be my motto for the next few weeks, but it doesn’t mean that I still won’t cry when I have to drop her off at school on Wednesday.