Back to Work and Shots!!

Well the two things Mom had been dreading for the past 3 months came to pass in the same week. Mom went back to work; Ella got her first shots and had her first day of "school"; all in the same week.

No sooner had we returned from Seattle on Sunday, then on Monday Mom and Ella had their first playdate at the Love a Lot Preschool. Mom and Ella went to the school around 11am that morning. The room they were taken to was a different room than we had seen on the tour. It had 8 babies 6-12 months old crawling all about. Ella was captivated; she sat on Mom's lap utterly transfixed, watching all these babies motor around the room. Mom, however, was overwhelmed. Not only were these babies much older, more mobile, and louder than Ella; there were a lot of them!!! Mom lasted 45 minutes before she declared it was Ella's nap time and left. On the way home she called Dad and expressed her doubts about whether it was going to work, including among other statements, "I'll quit my job and stay home." Mom thought about it and then said (considering the possible effect of hormones) for dad to accompany us on Wednesday and for a second playdate to form his own opinion.

Dad came on Wednesday and sat there for 15 minutes during which Ella sat in her bouncy chair, got her socks pulled off, and had her face swiped at by 2 other big bruiser babies. Dad calmly got up from the chair and went to talk to the director. 20 minutes later we were shown to the "Rainbow Room" which had six babies calmly napping in a quiet room, all 3-6 months old. Much more our pace. Her teachers are Maria, Drusilla and Angela. Angela doesn't speak English which was explained as a benefit to encourage the babies to be bilingual. Eventually Ella will move to the other room but at least she will be big enough to defend herself then.

First day at daycare:

This week Ella also got her first round of shots. Mom has fiercely dreaded this event; hence Ella is getting her two month shots at three months old. Mom would have delayed it further but the doctor would not release her for daycare. Like always, Ella was fine; her parents were the neurotic ones. Ella cried for a couple of minutes after then slept all the way home.

Evening after her shots:

Mom is beginning to learn Ella is a lot tougher than she looks and that things are often harder for Mom than for Ella.