After almost two weeks straight with Tashi--the most since August, before daycare--today was the first day of her new semester. Perhaps not surprisingly, she whined a little when I left. Also perhaps not surprisingly, after a series of monster naps all week today she napped for 15 minutes only, apparently. This is a record for her. Still, given her 4.5 hours in naps yesterday, the cumulative total for the two days is still pretty good. Miss A said they tried and tried to put her down but she just kept smiling and laughing. I guess if she's not upset, it's fine... hopefully the rest of January will be okay. (I start a one-month gig on Monday, leading me to go through the Six Stages of Gaining Employment however temporary in the space of an afternoon: Elation. Someone wants me! Doubt. Can I do the job that's expected? Panic. What do I wear? Worry. How will I catch up on sleep? Irritation. You mean I have to leave the apartment? Acceptance. All jobs must end.) But boy, did I miss her today! I'm sure she missed her playmates.
We'd put Tashi in daycare so we could hang husband's photography at Druids, where he'll be showing the entire month. That went pretty smoothly, and the prints look great, as you can see. Then we had lunch there and went down to Chelsea to check out glass doorknobs at Home Depot. On the way, we walked right by this store that someone--also glass doorknob-obsessed--had told me about, Olde Good Things. She said the address was the West 20s and I filed that under, Never Going to Be in the Neighborhood. So we figured since we were actually there, we'd check it out--and ended up spending the next two hours there. We found the doorknobs pretty easily, the issue was the rosette (the little backplate). The modern (aka cheap) doorknob sets have rosettes and footprints that are a lot larger than the old ones, and so when you revert back, you're left with a doorknob in a big hole in your door, with no way to keep it in place. After about 1.5 hours, husband (who'd been patiently sifting through a large crate full of rosettes, blackening his hands) said it'd be easier to just buy new doors.
I was just chatting with Dara about mittens and gloves for babies. I haven't figured out a way to make them stay on Tashi's hands--she immediately pulls them off. I've seen photos of friend's babies with them on--how do they keep them on? Tashi gets upset when even the sleeve of whatever she's wearing--the coat, shirt--is over her fingers. We've resorted to using the plastic cover over the Maclaren to keep her warm, but that's a serious pain to put on and take off all the time. I'm thinking of making it so the gloves are stuffed into her sleeves... but I have a feeling that won't win her over. Meanwhile, I have been hunting for those clasp things that attach the mittens to the sleeve. Need to add it to Tashi's wishlist!
She's really into her hands and fingers. Besides sticking them up her nose, holding onto her tongue, or separating board-book pages, we've noticed lately that, while she still finds every tiny thing on the floor, instead of sticking it right in her mouth she'll hold it out for you to take. She'll even crawl across the room with it in her hand to put it in your hand. She does this at daycare, too. At Waipo's the favorite toy is putting plastic toys into a bin, and taking them out again. Over and over again. Maybe this will mean she'll like cleaning up.
Tashi walk watch: She loves to crawl over to us to scamper up our legs while standing up. This is a little painful for husband because then she likes to pull at his leg hairs. She's getting better at keeping her balance with one hand holding onto something, and was doing a lot of cruising over the weekend at Waipo's. When Hector was over here for Tashi's birthday, I saw him go from a crawl to standing up, just by straightening up his back and his legs. I feel like Tashi wants to do that--her crawls sometimes are with legs more straight... but we'll see.
It was pretty clear this was going to happen, but the majority of my immediate group at work became part of the 6 percent the company is laying off across the board. This wasn't a big surprise and, for better or worse, not the first time it's happened to me (nor even the first time by the same company). At least it'll be an easy transition back to freelancing and being at home, given it's what I've been doing the past year. I keep wondering if there's a meaningful part-time job out there that doesn't involve making people buy stuff they don't particularly want. But then I realize that buying stuff makes the world go round. At least this makes moot the issue of what to do during the daycare's upcoming winter holiday breaks. Tashi will stay in daycare--she seems to love it, so much so that when I come to pick her up early, I feel badly dragging her away.
These days I seem to arrive during afternoon recess. Since it's chillier out now, the kids have been having recess in the rec room or library, which basically means they and the older infants are in a big room with music blasting like some peewee sock hop. (It's very cute.)
Tashi's naps are still erratic at daycare, though--sometimes no more than half an hour for the entire day. She fell asleep on the way home last week, and again this afternoon. I can count the number of times she'd fallen asleep in the Maclaren before--a grand total of once. Now it's almost becoming a habit. It must be a combination of the no-nap, warm (Nina Ping) coat, and early darkness. Here she is completely out while we wait for the elevator in our building. Then even after we're inside our apartment, she's still completely out, which I have to admit is super-handy while I put everything from daycare (dirty diapers, food cubes, bowls) away. The late half-hour power nap also means she's able to stay up long enough to see Daddy.
Today was my first day back at work, and as I thought it would be, it was distinctly odd. Not just because I was back at work, wearing normal clothes and in Midtown--that was the easy part--but more because the fate of our department seems to be up in the air since our division head is leaving the company. That's something that's still unfolding. Also, I was a little nervous about Tashi being back in daycare after missing it for a week, but she was completely fine, smiling at Miss K when we got there and reaching for Miss A by the time husband and I left. We left an EpiPen in her cubby (she is the fourth child at the daycare to have one handy) and learned pretty much all the caregivers know how to use it, as well as CPR.
Today also happened to be Picture Day, and in the morning I gave husband a choice of three outfits: one lilac, one pink, one dark pink. He chose the regular pink outfit, so that's what she's wearing in the photo.
We'd been giving Tashi a couple of meds since last Wednesday and were lucky that she happily swallowed them down twice a day. One is grape, the other mint, and she was a good sport about both being squirted down her throat via droppers. I guess the daily Vitamin D (also grape) conditioned her to take liquids this way.
Tashi skill-o-meter: I can't remember if I mentioned that she's discovered her tongue--she likes sticking it out and pulling on it. And now she's also discovered her right nostril--she can stick a little finger right into it, and then likes to breathe out through her nose to make sounds. She cracks herself up. She's also got this new complaining cry that's like a low-pitched huh-huh-huh. But most importantly skillwise, she stayed up tonight till 730pm! (Or 830pm pre-Daylight Savings this weekend.) When I arrived to pick her up at daycare this evening at 545pm, she was still napping, but this allowed her to stay up later and even see husband. If her new schedule is 730pm to 7am I'd be over the moon.
New Sound (3:01) Guest-starring Yoshi and the music of Ben Folds. (Note the onesie.)
Tashi nap-o-meter: 20 minutes this a.m., which was way, way too short for debate-watching, sleep-deprived mommy. But then she slept at daycare--yay! A full hour and 30 minutes, the longest yet. We'll see what happens sleepwise on her day home with me tomorrow.
Tashi's on a bit of a nap strike--which is how for now I am viewing what may be the transition to one nap. (I'm not ready! I need that a.m. nap!) Today and yesterday she napped only very briefly in the a.m. (45-60 minutes), then got woken up by mean mom to take her to daycare, where she wouldn't do a second afternoon nap. Next week we're supposed to start the longer daycare days anyway, so I guess it'll pan out, but I hate to think that she'll just never nap well again. What happens on weekends is she catches up on sleep (making it hard for us to do anything), but this may also include talking to herself for an hour before finally dozing off.
It used to be putting your hand on her chest or along her cheek helped calm her down to sleep. No more--she actually will push your hand away like it's a dirty sock (though, she sort of likes dirty socks...). She's discovered her tongue recently too--sticks it out for a long time, tries to lick things, and today spent a bit of time trying to grab it while laying down on the changing table (whatever distracts her, I'll take). Tashi's kisses these days mean an open mouth and the use of teeth--but I guess that's not really a kiss anymore, is it?
Last night two surprising things happened: 1) I got carded, though I think everyone did at this bar I went to for Dara's fundraiser; 2) I won one of the door prizes at the fundraiser (after two other names were called out, and those people weren't present). It was great to see Dara and Dan, whose lives with baby Leo I keep up with virtually via Dara's blog. Dan pointed out we met a decade ago in Hong Kong, which is astounding. I saw Dara texting the babysitter only once--not bad!
Tashi seems to have mastered the sippy cup while at daycare. We don't generally use one at home, mainly because I admit I often forget to give her water (I'm on milk detail), and if I do I use a regular cup. But here she is happily drinking away using the cup. Good thing, too, since sister has given us approximately 2,492 of her old sippy cups. (I do not know why she had so many.)
It reminds me too that I've gotten sort of lax about marking her development. Things just sort of happen, and then I start to believe they had been happening for a long time. For instance, although it's still a pain to put pants on her, dressing her is in a lot of ways a thousand times easier, because she pushes her arms, legs, head, and feet through the arm, leg, and neck holes and socks or moccasins as I'm putting on her clothes (usually lightning fast, racing to get to daycare after having had to wake her up from her first nap.). This will end, soon, I'm sure, once she realizes that she can actually resist getting dressed. The socks and moccs never stay on long, nor do hats. She tries to eat her hoodies occasionally.
Tonight Abuela and Abuelo are coming to babysit while I go out with friend Riza and husband plays volleyball. I have to apologize to Lela and Lelo in advance for the apartment being festooned with baby clothes. I did a load of just her laundry today but the dryer never worked. Which I didn't figure out till after having run it for an hour and 20 minutes of what turned out to be just cold-air-fluffing. I was so annoyed I just brought everything upstairs instead of putting more money in, so now there are clothes lying all over the place. I called our building's laundry machine operator to get my money refunded. The woman asked, How much? I said, Five cycles, times 60 cents each, plus something for the mental duress. She paused and said, I'll refund you the five cycles.
A few milestones today, two good, one not so good:
+ Today when I dropped Tashi off at daycare, she reached for Miss A, then smiled and waved bye-bye to me. She still whimpers every now and then, but gee! That was fast, no? Husband said she probably sees Miss A and thinks, She feeds me more! This is because she seems to eat lots more at daycare than at home. Possibly because they have more patience for feeding--and those giant highchairs.
+ When I picked her up, I saw on her regular daily report that she had taken a FIFTY-MINUTE nap. Nearly an hour--yay! And this after a pretty epic a.m. nap... and now she's gone to bed again before 630pm, having started rubbing her eyes and being cranky since we got home from CSA pickup etc at 540pm. Growth spurt? Baby needs her rest apparently.
+ And now the not so good: She's turning down certain foods. I knew this day would come, but not quite so fast. I had made a point of buying different veggies to puree yesterday (organic broccoli) because I felt like I was feeding her the same things over and over again (mango, zucchini, red pepper, yogurt). But Miss A reported she didn't eat much there, and asked me if I was seeing the same refusal at home. It was on the tip of my tongue to say--are you kidding? Feed her all this at home? I leave all the heavy lifting to you guys! But it's true that when I tried the broccoli again at home she kept pushing the spoon away. Alas. We'll try mixing her favorites (mango, butternut squash) with the green veggies and see how that goes. As I said to Tish, Let the games begin.
I finally got around to looking up 'Biting' in the parenting book Gen gave us--the one that said, Don't worry about tummy time, you're not your baby's trainer! As expected his view on biting was equally sanguine. He said, It's natural for babies to want to bite--they're trying out their teeth. And when they get a reaction out of you when they bite your finger, nipple, toe, it's better than any toy that lights up. No wonder they keep wanting to do it again and again! And it certainly explains why Tashi gets so mischievous-looking before she gnashes on a body part that isn't her own.
His solution is to try not to react, as hard as it may be. Then she'll lose interest and go back to her toys. So I wondered if being removed from the other child and given a talking to is akin to a fun reaction. If it is, she will probably bite again. I forgot to mention, too, that at the bottom of the ouch report is a note saying a copy goes to the director. It's in her file!
We had a nice weekend, with friends visiting and visiting friends. My friend Wendy from San Francisco came up to Inwood Saturday afternoon with her husband David, whom I'd never met. Wendy's a friend of mine from Hong Kong days. She was the CFO of a dotcom I worked at and we used to call her Wendy Spendy. They were very patient with Tashi's increasing crankiness (because she was tired? hungry? bored? Who knows! She needs to start using the signs I'm teaching her!) and we got to catch up on the past few years. David has a sister who lives completely off the grid in a park in Hawaii. Her home is a tarp. I was fascinated, especially when they said there were in fact a few families there. But then the reality is I can't even deal with mosquitoes in NYC, much less in the tropics. Every time I watch Lost, I realize I'd never survive for the mosquitoes and running out of contact lens solution (I'm blind as a bat).
Then on Sunday we went out to see Tish and Eric and Nina Ping in NJ. (I need Tish to send me photos.) We timed the hourlong drive with Tashi's second nap, which was mildly successful, but I can see this trick coming to an end. Especially as she now prefers sleeping on her stomach, and the car seat, obviously, doesn't allow that.
Nina Ping was cute with Tashi Ming--for one thing, calling her by her first and middle name every single time. Nina's so verbal and fast-talking it was like being with a much older child. Tish had me go through two huge bins of mostly pink clothing that Nina's outgrown, which was awesome. I'm starting to make peace with pink. At least the dark and even the hot pinks. I still don't like the pastels so much. Tashi has enough sneakers and socks and jackets now I think to last us through the winter. Yay! (Thank you, Auntie Tish!) Husband was sad, though, because the Mets ended their season. Heartbreaking once again.
After today's daycare, Caprice met me for coffee and walked up the hill and back down again with us to do all my errands (bank, supermarket), wearing Frida all the while. I'm going to start allowing them to feed Tashi daycare snacks, like raisins and other fruit, just because it's hard to keep up. Seriously, at Tashi's age now daycare to me is so worth it just to have someone else patiently feed and then clean everything up.
On Friday afternoon when I went to pick up Tashi Miss A said to me, I don't want to alarm you but Tashi beat someone today. I thought, O, okay, so she hit someone? Kids do that all the time. Miss A has a slight accent, and it wasn't 'beat,' it was 'bit.' Tashi bit a daycare friend!! In Tashi's cubby there was a piece of paper: "Isabella Child Care Ouch! Accident Report Incident [sic]: While Tashi was playing with her friends she accidentally bit another child. We removed her from the child and spoke to her about biting."
I couldn't get any other details, like which child it happened to. Presumably this is to protect the innocent. That child probably gets an ouch report too that says s/he was bitten but they won't say by whom. Miss A said they'd just watch Tashi more closely when she is playing, and hopefully it won't happen again.
I felt like I'd just gotten my wrist slapped for delinquent behavior, though I know intellectually it's normal at her age. I remember over the summer one of the kids in our playgroup was biting the other kids, and how I couldn't help but view the parent as not looking after the kid. Oops. I called Aislinn and said, If it was Cassius, apologies! And called sister, whose initial response was to chuckle. She's been dealing with Arjun's biting for a while and said she fully expects to hear from his preschool about an "incident."
I know Tashi thinks it's hilarious to bite. If she does it when at the boob, she pauses, smiles or giggles, and then goes for it. Removing her immediately gets the point across. I think my mistake was allowing her to nibble on my toes during bathtime, which she also thinks is hilarious. So, we have to make it clear that biting anything animate isn't funny.
Friday afternoon Kelly and Quinn came along for a couple short errands (when I took the Maclarens photo), and then we had Sara and her husband Dan (grandma babysat Sammy) over to watch the debate. I'd made a pork thing from Trader Joe's, which made me a little nervous since I hadn't made it before, but it was beyond easy. I also made the Mark Bittman veggie paella--also very simple (and I'd done that one before). At one point I wondered if our noisiness would bother Tashi, since this is the first time in a long time that we've had company over after she went to bed, but she slept through it all.
Tashi swim-o-meter: Second lesson today. She went under water seven times! A little coughing once but otherwise fine. She comes out of the lesson ravenous, and eventually exhausted. Husband said she clapped and smiled a lot to the songs they sing during the lesson.
We had an impromptu playgroup here Wednesday afternoon. Tashi's BFF Sammy came over with her mommy Sara, and as we were trying to encourage her to crawl, my friend Fumiyo rang and said she was nearby. I hadn't seen her in ages--I think June?--so she and Ollie came over.
Now, Ollie's birthday is Oct. 26, and look at her standing up--she's also walking! Has been standing since age 6 months! And Tashi's got I think at least two pounds on her.
It was near impossible getting the three girls to be facing the same direction for a photo. We also had to cut it short a little because Tashi got a grand total of 30 minutes of naptime ALL DAY yesterday. Out like a light at 615pm. (By contrast today--she's home with me so we can go to the daycare mixer at the end of the day--she has slept nearly four hours in naps.)
Since the weather's getting chillier, I got the black fleece Peanut Shell sling out again. It'd been a favorite when Tashi was really little, until she got too big but wasn't yet able to hold up her head. Because it's stretchy, it's working better than the cotton one we have, which had been feeling tight as Tashi gets bigger. I keep meaning to try out a wrap like the ones my friend Caprice has and uses all the time. Caprice said wearing her baby Frida is her secret weapon in her weight-loss contest. Makes sense--lugging around an extra 20 lbs all the time would definitely make a difference.
I saw Tish for dinner last night on the Upper East Side. We went to a wine bar that was really just like a regular Second Avenue bar, but with wine. Meaning, loud and unfortunately smoky (outside). But it was great to see Tish, who commutes two hours daily and during those commutes is telling hourlong stories about witches to entertain Nina (who is 4 and really into witches). She's mining memories of watching Bewitched and retelling episodes--genius! In high school for French class I was required to keep a journal as a different, French-speaking character and had my guy aspire to be a songwriter so the journal entries could just be rough French translations of songs by Crowded House and Howard Jones. (I am dating myself, obviously.)
A note on the photos: The wires one is more treacherous looking than it is, I promise. The white cord comes out instantly (magnetized and attached to daddy's Mac) and the black one we've since covered with a pillow. She loves crawling under the end table and into the bottom part of the exersaucer, probably because there's stuff for her to crawl into and over like that at daycare. And the bottom photo--Tashi as whirligig.
I've been meaning to allude to current events so that--should Tashi ever be able to bring herself to read this--she'll be able to put it in context. Aislinn gave me a good entrypoint. She said, Like the markets, Tashi's naps at daycare will correct themselves. This was before the $7 billion-plus bailout though. The Tashi equivalent to that might be the fact that a caregiver actually sits with her as she's lying down on the crib and pats her back till she falls asleep--much more luxurious than at home!
I've gotten into the habit of ringing sister after dropping Tashi off and on my way back down the hill. She said she'd run out of ways to describe what had been happening in the markets for her job covering them: meltdown, catastrophe, downdraft (a new one for me).
The bailout is being called transformative. Tashi's naps aren't exactly that, but she is seeing an updraft--made it to 45 minutes on Monday.
Tashi did three days of daycare this week. I kept her home Wednesday because she'd slept late, meaning a later a.m. nap, meaning not waking in time for the 10am dropoff deadline. Since the day before she'd gotten a grand total of an hour in naps (about a third of what she needs and used to get), I figured keep her home, while I still can. I learned the caregivers sit with her till she falls asleep, which is a little like staying at a luxury hotel vs. a hostel at home. Fortunately she's able to still put herself to sleep without me staying with her at home. That'd be a disaster if she suddenly needed a person with her. I'd send Yoshi in.
This is a shot I took while we were getting coffee for mommy at our regular place, a Dominican bakery. I also got a slice of cake to try, with the idea of ordering a cake from them maybe for Tashi's birthday. Every time I go there, someone's picking up this elaborately decorated cake for a birthday or wedding. But I have to admit, I wasn't a big fan of how it tasted. It was way too sweet and the frosting gooey. Dominicans must like their food sweet. I always have to talk them out of giving me three sugars for coffee. I think they're finally used to my sin azucar request (and using the thermos I bring in).
She looks pretty ghetto going out in a onesie and legwarmers, but I couldn't deal with trying to fit her into pants for such a short outing. Plus, what better way to show off her thighs? In her right hand: string cheese.
Tashi got her flu shot Monday after daycare. I decided to get it after some last-minute second thoughts, mainly because she is in daycare. I was nervous about the shot itself, especially since this was the first we did ourselves without Daddy, but she did fine. Great, even. Since everything is a big adventure, she was very curious about everything in the doctor's office and was pretty entertained by the blood pressure machine. She even watched the needle going in (Mom did not)--and then howled just briefly before calming down. I was pretty impressed!
Walking home from the pediatrician--Mom's view (see the little Band-Aid on her left leg? It used to look so huge on her thigh!). She always sits with her legs splayed: I also got a shot of Tashi enjoying snack time at the daycare. She's sitting between Lily and David. I always thought it was funny and cute seeing the row of high chairs ready to go. That's Miss A feeding David. Each night I prepare Tashi's food to bring to daycare. It's a lot of food cubes. Here's a typical array. What's missing from the photo is 2 oz breast milk, another cube of dry cereal mix to mix with the milk, half a small banana, and Cheerios. I swear she eats it all. Then when I pick her up, I usually have a tube of string cheese to give her. Now that she's got enough of her top teeth in, she makes quick work of it. And finally, I got a shot of her doing her new trick--waving bye-bye.
We went out NW New Jersey to visit Dave and Tabitha and their brood of Zenia (7), David (4), and Jordan (nearly 3) today, but completely spaced taking a photo. Dave's a pal of husband's from high school, and at one point they realized they were each present in the other's car for their very first car accidents, respectively. Obviously they prudently decided to never share a car again.
Besides giving birth to three kids, Tabitha is tackling their education, too. A former teacher, she's home schooling the kids. Husband and I both always notice how well behaved they are. The "schoolroom" in their house has rows of books on the wall, facing out, as in a library. But instead of a regular bookshelf they installed rain gutters in three rows to the wall, which I thought was utterly genius. Tashi for her part crawled off on her own all over the house with the three kids following. I wondered, could she be more socialized already because of daycare?
Before we headed out we Ergo'd her to the farmers' market. We could've taken the stroller, of course, but after nearly a full week of daycare I felt like some baby on my back. Then when Ginny wrote asking me about which Maclaren we graduated to, from the car seat and Snap N Go combo, I'd forgotten how big an adjustment it was to go from carrying her everywhere, and occasionally using the car seat, to having her face front in the Maclaren (a Triumph--bigger than a Volo but not quite as big as the Techno; a Quest also seemed a little big) and not being able to see her all the time.
One thing I forgot to mention to Ginny--sister told me when buying a Maclaren to look for last year's model. Although the model names are the same, the fabrics and colors change from year to year, as with cars, and buying an older model can save you money. (A Maclaren otaku could eyeball one and know the year right off. Who knew?) We ended up buying off Craigslist, which made the price issue sort of moot. Another thing I noticed is on Craigslist is that there's an awful lot of stuff for twins for sale. Makes sense.
Tashi made the wall of her new daycare! She's on the bottom right (closeup below). When I came to get her the other day, Miss A was on her hands and knees trying to photograph Tashi. I don't know who actually puts these artsy craftsy things together, but it was something cute I noticed when I informally toured the daycare with Aislinn a few months ago. The yellow paper reads, What will I be when I grow up? And while the boys and girls were given occupations that didn't diverge from gender lines, Tashi got to be a lawyer in a women's suit.
Fridays are daycare-free, so far, so we signed up to do sign language again. (Coincidentally, our Friday playgroup is also disbanding regular meetings--people's schedules weren't matching up as well as they had been.) I think Tashi will get more out of sign language class as a 10-month-old vs. as a 2-month-old. Now she's one of the oldest babies in the class and I spent most of it pulling her away from the beguilingly lit stereo and cable box. (The hostess for the class has an immobile 5-month-old.)
After Tashi's nearly two-hour nap (following four days of super-short 30-40-minute naps at daycare), Kelly and Quinn came over late in the afternoon. Kelly helped look after Tashi while I had to do a phone call (thank you!!). The girls are getting closer in size. Soon that 3-month-difference will mean nothing and Quinn will be able to grab Tashi's hair back.
Tashi food-o-meter: Her new favorite thing is string cheese. I brought one for the walk up to the class today, intending it to last the walks there and back, and she downed the whole thing on the way there. The teeth, she's finding, really come in handy. She really likes to feed herself, to the point where she pulls out food I've spooned in and then reinserts it (usually making it back in). Also, I think she does have allergies--but to ragweed, just like her mom. That explains the runny nose coming and going.
Tashi did lots better today. Yay! We went after her first nap, which I'd moved up to where it was before in order to get there by the 10am dropoff cutoff time. So she slept maybe an hour, hour fifteen in the a.m. Then she spent till 3pm there. I gave her the boob when we got there and when I picked her up, and in between she went for a walk to a park and swings, had her diaper changed three times, and took a 35 min nap.
She also ate all her food (but not the Cheerios) but didn't take milk from the bottle. Her nap being short wasn't great, but at least she napped, period. We're told that's hard to get them to do at first. Tomorrow they will put her in a different crib, one without a mirror at the end, because apparently after initially crying she hung out in the crib just staring at herself in the mirror. I got play-by-plays from Karen, the daycare director, via email, which did a lot to ease my mind. The best part was when I showed up to get her, she was playing, not crying alone in the corner. PHEW! One of the caregivers said my advice of putting her hand on Tashi's chest to calm her down really works. Yay!
Then we went to Sara and Sammy's house and hung out in Sammy's new foam-carpeted, plastic-walled play area and played with Patches, their exceedingly gentle dog who didn't mind getting yanked by two babies.
I am cautiously optimistic the rest of the week goes well daycare-wise. We'll stick to the same 10am-3pm schedule if possible. I have to say, in our limited experience at the daycare so far, what is really nice is that everyone seems to know her name already and gives her big smiles. She's even smiling back.
Tashi food-o-meter: bits of baked chicken and turkey sausage, both organic, in little pieces that she can grab and feed herself. Loved both. I was going to wait a year before meat, not for any good reason, but given that both were organic, I figured why not. (She's had seafood already anyway.) Plus green grapes (prechewed by mommy).
This is Tashi's 'I can't believe you're sending me to daycare so you can sit at home on your butt alone' look. Just kidding, but that's the way I'm thinking these days. Pathetic, right? Even my mom finally said to me (as everyone else has), Let it go! Just bring her in and let her figure it out. She will cry, but will adapt. Husband pointed out that she's adapted to every situation we've put her in, which is true. But then we've always been there with her. (This is also pre-swimming class, which starts in a couple weeks with Daddy.) I think I remember someone saying to me that starting daycare earlier, though initially harder, was easier in the long run, because they're just blobs. Now Tashi recognizes faces and people etc. But she's not talking yet, and screaming out Mama! (That's the fun that Andrea's going through with her baby Anna in a new daycare out in New Jersey.)
Anyway, I am aiming for a longer daycare stay (4-5 hrs) starting tomorrow. Wish us luck.
PS Clearly I've been so wrapped up in this daycare thing I plumb forgot to mention she turned 10 months old.
