Like Doggy Daycare, But for Kids

My mom has been sick all week, which necessitated an early introduction to daycare for Miss Nora. This is probably the ideal way to get us both used to the idea; I didn't have too much time to obsess over it, and Nora got to know the daycare lady while she was still too young to be afraid of strangers (Nora, that is).

Still, I managed to fit a lot of obsessing into a very small space. The night before the first day of daycare, I must have spent an hour packing her diaper bag. I felt as if I were sending her off to summer camp. I agonized over which toys to include. "What if Nora needs to make an important pretend baby call on her little plush cell phone and it's not there??"

But of course it's been fine. Great, in fact. Nora's the only baby at a very small in-home daycare. There are three other little girls there who have been over the moon about having a new little baby in the house, so Nora has been her usual smiley little sociable self and has slept hard every night after schmoozing it up all day. I work 5 minutes from daycare, so I've gone over every day on my lunch hour, which has done a lot to help my anxiety; Nora probably would have been fine either way.

Still, it's so odd to think of my little baby out in the world without me. She's building her own relationships, which have nothing to do with me. I can just see her saying, "My friend Samantha said the most hilarious thing today. it was soooo Samantha. Hmm? Oh, nevermind, you don't know her." Or, "The gang from daycare is meeting up at the park at noon. I'd invite you, Mommy, but you wouldn't know anybody." Ahh, the agony of individuation.

(By the way: Nora's been squealing all day. I wonder if she's copying the non-stop high-pitched screeeee! sound of the other little girls in daycare?)

Monday my mom will be back to ruddy good health, I hope, and she'll go back to watching Nora during the day for a few more weeks. I'm sure Nora misses her grandmama, but grandmama is going to have lots of teeny-tiny shoes to fill when it comes to keeping the kid entertained.

Another Milestone: Nora's First Bite of Rice Cereal!

I spent hours trying to upload this last night, only to discover this morning that I can only upload 100MB at a time and this file is ginormous. So I've divided this video up into two parts. Enjoy!

And now, the stunning conclusion to Nora Eats Rice Cereal for the First Time!

Saturday Stroll with the Boss Lady

We are soooo ready for the warm weather at my house. It's been so cold since Nora was born that she has hardly ever been outside, so this past weekend was a huge treat. We walked up to Molly Malone's and had lunch. Rich and I hovered around her to make sure she didn't get too much sun on her pink little bod.

Rich and Nora Discuss the Pigeon's True Motives

I hope books will be as important to Nora as they are to me. (And I do mean real, paper books-- not e-books. Everybody who works in publishing is wondering whether print is dead, but I don't believe it.) I have warm memories of some of the books I read as a child. A Walk in Wolf Wood, by Mary Stewart, is the first book I remember that made me feel transported to another world where the characters were as real as people I knew. It also made me very much want to be or marry a werewolf, but that's neither here nor there.

My parents read to me quite a bit, and Rich and I have started reading to Nora. Right now all she really wants to do is gnaw on the corners of the book, but it's a start. Here Rich is reading The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, a gift from Sharon and Jarrod. (Thanks, guys!)

Video: Kisses from Cousin It