Natalie’s Blog

Natalie loves visiting the animals at Terhune Orchards (plus they have a farm store with produce!) so it’s become our favorite weekly outing. Pictures from yesterday:

That’s right! This Mama is returning to the world of full-time paid work. Although my plan all along had been to go back to Womanspace full-time at some point, it was still a difficult decision. In early January I approached my boss about coming back full-time in June when Natalie turned 18-months-old. She agreed, then came back to me a couple of weeks later and said there was an immediate opening for a full-time counselor. There might be another position in 6 months, but no guarantees. My initial reaction to think, “Oh, no! I can’t possibly ABANDON my BABY this soon!!!” Just a bit irrational, I know. After much thought and debate, I feel confident that this is the right choice for our family. And ever since we made the decision, I’m finding that I can’t wait until March 3 when I start.

Part of what made us feel better about the decision was finding the right day care. After doing much research and a few site-visits, we settled on The Goddard School in Hamilton. We liked the center, the directors, the teachers in the infant room, and the school’s policies. It feels like a community, whereas other day cares we visited felt like institutions. We know the adjustment period may be hard on Natalie, but we’re confident that once she gets used to the routine, she’ll love going to school. We’ve been the school twice now, and both times Natalie was eager to explore the classrooms, point out all the animals on the hallway mural, and interact with the other children. Natalie’s grandmothers have generously agreed to continue spending 1 day a week with her, so she’ll only go to Goddard on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

We’ll keep you posted on how the transition goes.

Natalie and her buddy Josie had lots of fun today watching the ducks at the Prospect Park Zoo:

Natalie started saying “night-night” when she is ready to go to bed, but sometimes she fakes me out. As in, she’ll act really tired, use the sign for sleep and say “night-night,” so we’ll go upstairs and do the whole routine. Only for Natalie to perk back up again. Very frustrating. The other night she did that and when we came downstairs she wanted Daddy to read to her. After a while Chris passed out, but our night owl kept looking reading her books until 11:30!