And we're mobile!

Yesterday, E-chan zigzagged his way through the loungeroom (via a detailed study of the internet cord, a box of recycling, and his pram wheels), to visit me in the kitchen! With a combination of rolling and commando-style crawling, he is more or less mobile. This is the point where we find out what needs to be child-proofed. We're doing it gradually, as he isn't moving so fast that I can't really keep track of him. I know he won't go to the laundry/bathroom unless I put him there, for example. But I do have to make sure the stereo is turned off and that there are no CD's in the player, so that when he swivels the volume knob up to 10, I don't have to worry about anyone getting deafened. And any nice books are gone from under the coffee table. And all our kitchen drawer knobs are linked together with rubber bands so that he can't get at the gladwrap rolls and other spikey things.

E-chan also went to Child Care twice last week with me there (just for brief visits), and three times this week, without me there. He went for half a day the first time, a bit longer the next day, and a whole day today. He seems to be stimulated by it all, and hasn't cried - yet. The first day there, he wouldn't go to sleep and didn't eat much. The second day, he still didn't sleep, but ate well. Today, he ate well and actually slept once, which is as good as many days he's at home. When I picked him up, he was giggling with one of the carers, and smiling a lot. In fact, I think one of the carers in particular was a bit taken with him.

I'm happy that he seemed happy, stimulated, and has been well taken care of. We are lucky that the centre is a 10 minute walk from our house, and the centre is 10 more minutes from a train station. I'm not sure how long it will take me to walk from work to pick him up, but it won't be more than 15 minutes, so my work/home/childcare is all within a 30 minute walking triangle. I'm very pleased that our household is such a low carbon emitter!!

The carer to child ratio in the nursery (0-2 years old) isn't bad, especially when you consider most of the kids are closer to 18 months old and therefore a bit more independent in their play and eating. But some days in the centre are busier than others. I'm bracing for the likelihood that the implications of where he is going haven't fully sunken in yet, and that some time in the next few weeks he'll start crying when his Dad drops him off, or when I pick him up. And of course he seems to have a runny nose already.

So: so far, so good.

Next step: starting work on Monday. I hear my mother's words echo in my ears: "you're gonna have to be organised... you're gonna have to be organised". (Yeah, Mum, whatever you say... We'll be organised... sort of... well a combination of that and bumbling along...).

And in other news, I've left it until the weekend before re-starting work to get some fabric and embark on my first sewing project in about 10 years.