Month: September 2008

We start Conrad in daycare tomorrow. I’m not sure why I haven’t mentioned it here yet. Probably because we’re feeling very conflicted about it. This was the plan all along, but the opening came up several months earlier than we expected it. We have such a wonderful situation with Bonnie taking care of him here, in our own home, but we knew that was going to end at some point. I guess we were both thinking it would end, oh, maybe when he went away to college.

Not only will it be an emotional adjustment, but a logistical one as well. Right now, Jean is downstairs preparing everything he might need for the day tomorrow, and then labeling it. All of it. The sippy cup, for instance, requires three individual pieces of identifying tape. “One cool thing is that they assigned our boy the color black as his personal identifying hue, which means we also got a way cool silver Sharpie. I assume they gave him this color combination because they saw his name and knew he was badass.”

I know he’ll be fine there. He’s a happy, well-adjusted baby and he responds well to other people and activity and attention, and we’re getting him in before he’s started showing any signs of separation or stranger anxiety. When we took him to the daycare for orientation, he had a great time. At one point we were all standing in a circle listening to the director, and Conrad started looking around the room at everybody, alternately grunting long, drawn-out “Arrrrrrrrs” and cackling maniacally. The other parents laughed, but I know inside they were thinking, “Please don’t let the giant pirate baby eat my child.”

We’re starting him off slowly and transitioning him to full days over the next two months or so. Does he need that much of an adjustment period? Probably not. Do I? Probably so.

The cats no doubt feel neglected at times. Enough, apparently, to overcome some issues. Hastings and Roy sought solace in each others’ company this afternoon.

… while there are many photos of him looking at the surf with his characteristic analytical gaze, he totally dug it. Each successive morning when we walked down to the beach, he would smile and laugh when he saw the waves. Click on the picture to enlarge it and get a better look at the expression on his face.

We just got back from four days on Topsail Island with our friends Memsy and Gill and their daughter Katherine. Traveling with the boy certainly changes things. After a long day experiencing the sun, sand and surf, and getting a lot of attention, it was all we could do to keep him awake until 6:00. Which of course means he woke up earlier than usual. This morning he woke up at 5:08. We were actually up too early to see the sunrise; by the time it was up we were inside doing something engrossing and baby-related. But we didn’t have to worry about making the 11:00 checkout time from the beach house. We were actually home by noon.

Here are some highlights of the trip “more on his Flickr page, as per usual”.

On the first day we realized we had forgotten a hat, so we improvised. I predict all the babies will be doing it next year:

Dave and Barb also sent this cool dinosaur pull-toy, which is pretty much a chew toy as far as the boy is concerned.

Have we mentioned that he’s crawling?

He’s crawling. He also has a tooth, but don’t count on a picture of that. I’ve only seen it once, this afternoon “at least a week after it popped” when he was loudly expressing his displeasure at what we assume is the imminent arrival of the next tooth.