End Of An Era

It was a day of milestones around here -- NJ's last day home-free, my last day of juggling her and my new job, and the arrival of my first paycheck from the aforementioned new job. It's been a little bittersweet, but don't let this fool you -- I'm not as morose about the situation as I seem to be in this clip:




NJ was her usual stellar self, at one point spending an entire hour in her play pen, playing and hanging out calmly and quietly, when I got trapped on a long conference call. Then we ran a couple of errands, and her mood then is adequately captured in the photograph here. It's only now, as The Wife came home and promptly started fawning over NJ, that it's really hitting me. Even though we've known for more than a year that tomorrow was on the calendar, it's still a little weird. I know I'm going to miss things like opening the blinds after NJ's morning nap and turning to see her stretching and grunting in her crib, right before she smiles and goes "Daaaaaaaaaaaahh!" I most definitely will not miss working and caring for her simultaneously. Today was the worst day yet on that front, and it seemed inevitable because the days have steadily gotten busier and hairier. Today I had to finish one project that was late and complete another that was moved up on the calendar, and cram this all into the two hours of NJ's afternoon nap. What's worse, I had to walk away from the computer after the previously mentioned conference call, knowing these things were hanging over my head like Damocles' sword. (I guess two projects actually means two swords, right? His dress sword and his battle sword, I suppose. Or can two ominous things be described as one so the proverb is intact, with one sword representing the overall workload. Hey, look: I'm way off topic. Whoops.)

So here's hoping tomorrow morning goes smoothly. I'll probably be leaving home at the same time The Wife packs up the kid up for her first day of day care. The Wife is worried that NJ won't understand what's going on when she drops her off -- when she leaves her child behind -- but even if that upsets NJ, I don't think it'll last very long. She'll have plenty of new things to do, plenty of new toys to play with, plenty of new friends to make. And then, of course, she'll be freak-out delighted to see her mom when she picks her up at the end of the day, I always mention. Don't know if The Wife's buying it, though.

I am very, very proud of this little girl. I can't wait to sit her down one day and tell her about the best year of my life. It will probably bore her to death -- you know how these kids are today -- but I'll love telling it.

Day One: That's a Wrap

I got up at 5.30 a.m. because of all the noise downstairs. The Wife was watching TV as she fed NJ (who woke up at 4.45), and my in-laws were gathering their things for their trip back to the East Coast today. And the dogs, the Two Idiots, were running around after anyone who moved, looking to get fed.

There was a touching goodbye scene in the living room as they all left for the airport, then it was me and NJ. She got a little contentious after about forty-five minutes, so I decided to see if morning naptime could be moved up a bit. I put her in the swing, put on "Rockabye Baby: Lullaby Renditions of the Rolling Stones," and when I held up my iPhone in the dark to see what was going on, she was sawing logs. Then I lamented having had two big cups of coffee already, because otherwise I could have napped right along with her. Note to self: Coffee after morning nap.

The rest of the day went by without a hitch. No fussing on an errand trip, only smiles for a nice old lady at Staples. NJ got a little cranky on the drive home, then suddenly shut up. When I got home I found out why--she was out cold (see below). She napped for another hour or so while I ate, then when she woke up she ate and we did some chores (I wore her, full frontal Baby Bjorn going on, and she was enthralled when I'd reach down to pick up a bag of recyclables or put clothes in the dryer) and goofing around.



She knows what's up with the bottle now, too. When I was eating a snack I drank a bottle of water and every time I'd raise it to my lips she'd grunt in a particular way. (Maybe that's Unintentional Parental Embellishing, but I swear it happened.) I finished and then held her bottle out in front of her, and she reached for it greedily with both hands. Once we sat down and got started with the feeding, I had to pry her chubby little fingers off it so I could get a decent grip.

Another feeding, a brief nap, and The Wife was coming through the door at 5.21 p.m. I was glad to see her, and she was delighted to see NJ. All in all, a very good day. I'd worried about random crying jags, NJ rejecting the bottle and missing The Wife, missing naps, etc. and nothing like that happened. The timetable was off a bit, but meals and sleep ended up OK and there was plenty of playtime. The worst event of the day was when she peed on the changing table and then, as I was cleaning that up, peed in the crib where I'd put her. I could have sworn she was finished.

All in all, a successful first effort. I guess there's nowhere to go but down now.