I'll let this video speak for itself :)

Elijah talking :) from Olya on Vimeo.

Family Pictures

Swing, swing, swing!

Playtime Rocks :)

So, two days ago we went to daycare for the first time. No good, bad, bad, get us out. Yesterday, we went again - and as soon as I set down with Wombat among the other kids, he started bawling for no apparent reason. We were starting to get discouraged! But today Wombat turned things around.

We came in, he checked things out for a bit and happily played for 1.5 hours, eventually joined by another 5.5 month old baby. The two of them put their heads together on the mat. :) So Wombat enjoyed his playtime and I took him home for his nap to make sure we left on a high note. :) Yeay! Here are pics of us enjoying playtime; rock on! :)

Daycare: Post-game analysis

First, the answer everyone has been waiting for: it did take me too long to find the daycare, and Wombat did take his nap in the car. :) Here are the highlights of our daycare stay:

1. Wombat is excited to be there on arrival and smiles at daycare staff. Daycare staff grabs Wombat in their excitement. Wombat turns that smile upside down.
2. Wombat becomes perpetually worried that someone will snatch him again. While playing with cool daycare toys, all of which make a noise, he keeps looking over his shoulder.
3. Teacher continues to try to pick him up and to at least wave at him from afar.
4. Wombat interprets the waving as some sort of a threat, judging by his response.
5. Teacher changes Wombat's diaper. Wombat handles it like a man and doesn't cry.
6. I step out for a second. I come back to find Wombat on his tummy on a mat, snotty and making despairing sniffling noises. I take him to be fed by the crib area. Main teacher comes; I ask her if he was crying while I stepped out. She says "No." I feel almost as bad as Wombat.
7. The teacher informs me that "Mommy is a distraction" to the babies. I feel encouraged. Clearly, have I not been distracting Wombat this entire time he would have been calmly sitting in a recliner and reading WSJ kids edition. But due to my distracting presence, he is snotty and sniffly.
8. Throughout the 1.5 hours we were there, Wombat is followed by a very persistent 12 month old girl, who offers him toys. He picks up on her lead, but adds his own interpretation and begins to take away toys from other children. When he can't reach the toy, he tries to chew on their hands. Sigh....
9. While we are by the cribs, 2 babies wake up and cry to announce that fact. While Wombat and I hear them, we are not qualified to pick them up. The staff are busy with the other kids and don't hear the babies crying. Eventually, the younger one gives up crying altogether, but the older (Wombat-aged one) persists. By the time Wombat and I are taking off, that baby is wailing.
10. Wombat leaves in a dazed state, but still gives a polite smile to the front-desk lady asking him "Did you make many friends?" She didn't try to snatch him. Smart move.

So, not the greatest time. But hey, you have to start somewhere. To make up for it, I took Wombat to Giant to look at colorful cereal boxes afterward. :) We'll be trying again tomorrow - hopefully by Friday he'll feel more comfortable hanging out there for a few minutes at least. Any ideas for how to make it easier on Wombat? Is it always like this when you start off? Sigh....

Daycare Prep

Today, Wombat and I are headed to Bright Horizons to start our transitions: Wombat's transition to day care and my transition back to work. To start, we will only be spending one or two hours there a day and I will be with him the whole time. Which brings me to contemplate how I should act while in daycare today. Specifically, these questions arise:

1. Might I be allowed to take a nap while there?
2. How should I best contain the urge to attack anyone who picks up my Wombat? Given that this is daycare, I suspect his teachers will be picking him up in their arms. You are right - the best way to fight that urge would be with a nap. See, that's why question 1 is so important.
3. Would it be wrong to put on makeup before going out of fear that Wombat will be traumatized if his mothers appearance is inferior to that of the other mothers?
4. Would it be wrong to, in response to whatever the teachers are doing, to say, SNL-style, "Um, yeah, I already do that at home, soooooo.... yeah, we do that at home all the time and Elijah does that with me, and he likes me better than you, so.... yeah....so....."?
5. Will they be understanding of my need to snap cute pictures of my son at every play station with other, obviously less-cute children as the background?

Ok, time to go! Answers to these, and many other pressing questions (such as, will Olya find the daycare before Wombat gives up on her navigational skills and takes another nap rendering the entire exercise mute) when we come back!

It's the little things

As we are coming up on Wombat's 6 months, I think I'll list all the new things Wombat has been doing. Because there is a lot of them. And these are not textbook "roll, sit, chew" milestones - no, these are cool, quirky, new Wombastic things that he can now do. The little things.

1. Now, when getting dressed, he will push his arm through a sleeve and pop his hand out on the other side. He does that very quickly.
2. When making noise in his crib, he now expects someone to come. We think so because when we run up, he is staring at the door and gives a huge smile as soon as we come in. He is clearly expecting someone to pop through the door once he makes a noise. :) Which makes us hope that he realizes that even when he is alone in the room, he is not alone.
3. He laughs at things he finds funny.
4. He can roll his way around the room. When playing in his gym, he can spot Mom, decide he wants to go to Mom, and roll all the way to Mom's feet. :)
5. He giggles in anticipation of a tickle attack.
6. He has started to play with Bismarck. When Bismarck approaches, Elijah turns away his face (to avoid getting licked) and at the same time stretches out his arms, grabs Bisy's beard and pulls Bis toward himself.
7. He rode on Dad's shoulders for the first time this month. Loved it.
8. He recognizes himself in the mirror and laughs. One time he noticed that the toy in his hands was also reflected in the mirror, and freaked out because there were two of them.
9. He loves it when you go fast. When he is in the stroller, go fast! When he is in a carrier, go fast! He giggles if you wear him facing forward and run like mad. :)
10. This month, he tried raspberry juice (too sour!), apple in a munchkin feeder (Yum!) and a large piece of pear (best teether ever!).

As his Dad said, "It's like up to now he's been outside of the world, looking in. Now, he wants in. He is ready to be part of everything".