Seven Months Old and Starting "School"

Dear Teo,

You are seven months old!  The big thing that we started this month was daycare . . . You are going to Kristie's house for a few hours in the morning, four days a week.  Kristie, is a family friend of one of the teachers at the Relief Nursery, and she has been working with kids for 30 years.  She is a very kind person, and obviously skilled (she got you to take the bottle on your first day there). 

This transition has been a little hard for you, and super-stressful for me.  After the first two idyllic days, you started to realize that when you see Kristie it means I am leaving, and you have cried pretty intensely about it. 

It has been SO hard for me to stick with this and trust that you will adapt to being there, but Kristie assures me that you only cry for a few minutes and then you play happily with her and the other kids.  This week, I've been standing outside the door after dropping you off to listen to how long you cry, and it's true . . . you stop in a matter of a few minutes.  I guess it will just take some time for both of us to adjust. 

You still go to work with me in the afternoons, which is fun.  You love the train table in my classroom.  You also like typing on my keyboard.

At home, your new favorite thing is to play with is the gravel in the back yard.   You like to pick it up and then let it fall through your fingers.

You have four teeth now, and you are eating more food.  I cook and puree vegetables and fruit and then freeze it into ice cube trays to thaw one at a time as I need them.  It really isn't that much extra work if I just make extra of whatever vegetable we are having for dinner.  

You have a blocked tear duct, which means your eye is often stuck closed after you've been sleeping.  You look like a little pirate when you wake up, which is kind of pitiful, but also pretty cute.  The doctor says that it should clear up by the time you are a year old. 

Oceana loves to come over and help me change your diaper and feed you. She likes to pretend that she is the mother, and her doll is the baby, and I am her dog, and you are my puppy.   Ruff, ruff!

A couple weeks ago, Oceana got her first haircut ever.   Her hair is very long and curly, and she constantly gets comments on how beautiful it is.  She has felt nervous about getting it trimmed, but after exploring the concept with pretend play (by trimming the hair on all her dolls) and watching Grammy get hers cut, she decided she was ready to try it too. 

You haven't met your other cousins (Indigo, Jaden and River) yet, but we are hoping to fly to Kansas in August to visit them.  It has been two years since we last saw them, so we can't wait for this trip.  I'm sure it will be really exciting for you . . . Not only will you meet your aunt and uncle and your three cousins, you'll meet the chickens, the cow, the chinchilla, the two cats, and the two Saint Bernards that live with them!