Win!

Well, that was a stress about nothing!

It seems The Baby likes nursery! She did scream when she realised I was about to leave her, but she'd started to settle before I'd even left the room. The nice nursery lady whose name I've already forgotten took her off to read a story, and she was fine. The Baby's affections are fickle, and are easily bought with a crinkly book. And she was apparently fine all day. I think she really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed it too. In fact, I feel slightly guilty about how much I enjoyed it. It's the first time I have left my one and only precious child with strangers, and I barely gave it a second thought once I'd driven away. The gorgeous sunshine and the fact that I got about 3 weeks worth of jobs done helped a bit mind. I almost gave them a ring at lunchtime, but only because I felt I should do a bit of an Anxious Mammy act, not because I was actually worried about her. I wonder if they thought I was really cold and uncaring for not sheeding a tear, or bothering them with frantic calls..

I am slightly concerned though. I think they have given me back the wrong baby. They have given me back a child who plays happily by herself, slept through the night, and has been smiling and laughing and giving me lovely cuddles all day. I don't know who she is, but I like her.

Nerves Kicking In.....

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

It's The Baby's first full day at nursery tomorrow. Eek! On the one hand, I am looking forward to tomorrow immensely - after three days of solid horridness, can you blame me? And I will finally get chance to clean the cesspit formerly known as my house. On the other, I'm bloody terrified. She is a bit poorly, so very clingy, so it's going to break my heart to leave her as she WILL scream (she screamed when I went to the toilet at a friend's house today, so it doesn't bode well). I'm also convinced I will forget to take something, or have forgotten to tell them something. Motherhood has taken over my head so completely, that I am no longer aware of thinking about it. I don't know how to tell anyone else how to look after my child. It's like when someone else is covering your job when you go on holiday, and the minute you're on the plane you remember about 12 things that you forgot to tell them because you do them on autopilot. Oh well. She will only be there for 9 hours, I'm sure nothing can go wrong in that time. And I do believe they have some experience in looking after children.

The worst thing about her going to nursery is it makes me feel like she is now a Big Girl. Don't like it. I'm sure I will have changed my tune on Tuesday, when I've got her back and she punishes me for leaving her....

I'll let you know how it goes.

Mundane Thought

I have nothing very interesting to say today, especially on the subject of The Baby - she still has a cold, she's still whingey, she's still covered in snot, and she may or may not be showing signs of teething yet again. Blah blah blah. You're all bored of reading that, I bet.

So instead, I am going to share an equally interesting thought I had today while cooking my tea. Or, to be more precise about it, microwaving a Sainsbury's chinese ready meal. We have one of those shiny exciting microwaves that has all kinds of preset programmes to cook things, and is also an oven. Does anyone actually know how to use any of those settings? Has anyone in the history of the world ever roasted a chicken using their microwave? You might be able to do it at the touch of a button, but has anyone ever figured out which button that might be? I put mine on full power, turn it on for a few minutes, and turn it off when the food has all spilled over the sides of the container. Is that not the normal way to use a microwave?

There. Who said motherhood turns your brain to mush?

One Of Them Days

Ugh. It's a bit rubbish sometimes, this mothering lark. Today has been a Bad Day. It started when I woke up, with a very bad throat and head, to a small crash, and went in to find The Baby lying uder her mobile. Not lying under it like you're meant to lie under it, but with it actually on top of her. She had somehow managed to loosen it, and I have no idea how it didn't hit her in the face. It kind of went from there really. I was feeling a bit poorly and wanted to lie on the sofa feeling sorry for myself; The Baby developed an aversion to the living room, and also to sitting quietly. We did some playing in various odd corners of the house, pausing every 5 minutes for a fit of pitiful whingeing. Hers, not mine (although I was close). I was clock-watching from lunchtime until 5pm, when Husband got home and I ran away.

I've just realised, this happened after the last time I left her. This is punishment. Going back to work is going to be fun.

Absence Makes The Heart Grow...

.....resentful and whingey apparently.

The Baby had her settling-in visits to nursery this week, and today we had to leave her for a whole two hours. (Almost. We were a bit late.) It was not as traumatic as I had been expecting. Thank the Lord for activity centres. We don't have one, but The Baby loves them, so we plonked her in one by way of distracting her from the fact we were abandoning her to strangers, and beat our retreat. She didn't cry until we were out of the door, so thankfully out of sight and earshot! I knew she probably would cry, but knew it wouldn't be for long, as lunch wasn't that far away, and a mother's loving embrace cannot possibly compare to freshly prepared toad-in-the-hole.

When we return, I was hoping for a big beaming smile and fierce cuddle to show me that she'd missed me. Nope. What I got was a tired, screaming, red-faced Baby, who practically threw herself out of my arms to get to Husband. Humph. She knows this nursery business is my fault, I can tell. First full day on Monday.....

The developmental spurt continues, however. Today we have been watching The Baby push her walker around the living room, toddling along like a happy little (if drunken) old lady taking her shopping home from Tesco in one of those tartan trolleys. She's also starting to copy us saying bits and pieces - pretty sure we're getting "Hiya" and "Hello", and I definitely heard her copy Husband saying "Oh, Baby" (well, actually he said her real name, but as you know, I refuse to reveal that on here, lest Social Services swoop in and take her away from me for being a terrible mother) when she threw a spoonful of yoghurt across the kitchen. Really really must stop swearing now. Don't want her first sentence to be "**** off, you ******* ****basket".

Bored Now

You know when you're doing something really really tedious for days on end? There comes a point, when you go, "Sack this, I'm going to the pub". Sadly, when the task in question is listening to your child whinge unhappily and wiping up her eye snot, you can't really do that. It is somewhat frowned upon.

The Baby, Husband and I seem to be passing a cold around, and taking it in turns to be utterly pathetic with it. Today is her turn. Bless her little poorly face, she has just not known what to do with herself at all. Put in her in front of the tv, she whinged. Gave her some toys, she whinged. Cuddled her, she whinged. Put her down to sleep, she whinged. Gave her some food.. she smiled and ate it all. She can't be that ill then.

Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow, as we've got a big day! Her first settling-in session at nursery (if they don't take one look at her green and gooky eyes and turn us away, that is). Unless she has a miraculous recovery overnight, I can't see this going well.

Here Comes Trouble

The Baby is having another one of those developmental spurts. In the last few days, she has got the hang of:

• Waving - but sometimes not until about two minutes after the person she's waving at has left.
• Clapping - kind of, she still only opens one fist, so it looks a bit like a vaguely threatening punching gesture.
• Pulling herself up - she's been doing this on people for a while, but now she can totally do it on inanimate objects too. I left her sitting in her cot for a few minutes, and came back to find her standing and grinning like a maniac
• Drinking her milk out of her beaker by herself - but sometimes she is just bloody lazy and makes me hold it for her
• Crawling! - Finally,yay! And today she even crawled around on the floor for a good few minutes without whingeing about it!
• Undoing her nappy - a bit less yay. You now have to put her vest on with superhuman speed or she WILL get to those tabs.
• Laughing like a maniac - see the last post!

Unfortunately, she seems to have lost the knack of eating properly. When she has any type of finger food, if there is more than one piece in front of her, she will pick up a piece, take a bite, then drop it, pick up another one, take a bite, drop it, giggle, pick up another one... A bit like Reese Witherspoon with those chocolates in Legally Blonde (without the giggling).

It's Easter this weekend (you all knew that, you're not stupid). Debating letting her have her first chocolate button. Not sure there's any point, as she gets excited enough about a spelt biscuit. God knows what chocolate is going to do to her.

Have a good one, folks x