Week in review

It hasn’t been bad, which is good. Joshua had some rough days at daycare, but I think it’s just a matter of time before he’s in a good “groove” there and maybe even *gasp* on a schedule! Who knows, though. He’s not a good napper, still, so they’ve had some trouble getting him to sleep. Which means I pick him up and he’s super happy to see me, but really, really tired. This does mean that it’s gotten INFINITELY easier to put him to sleep in the evenings with little to no fuss. I do love that. He even slept through the night last night. I’d LOVE it if he chose the weekend before I start back to work to decide that sleeping through the night is a good idea. Because I think it’s a FANTASTIC idea. I mean, come on, kid. Sleeping is COOL. DO IT MORE.

He has decided that oatmeal and bananas are amazing. The pediatrician wanted us to start him on either rice cereal or oatmeal to see if it would help with his reflux. He did NOT like either of them by themselves. He’d take one bite, then clamp his mouth shut and spit through his pursed lips to make sure NOTHING made it inside. We sort of discovered that he likes bananas by accident. He’s gotten REALLY grabby when we’re holding him and eating or drinking anything. I was holding him the other day while eating a banana and he grabbed for it, so I thought “What the hell…” and I mashed up a bit of the banana and gave it to him. He looked a bit confused at first, and then reached for the banana again. So, oatmeal and bananas was born.

(I realize I’m not the first parent to think of putting bananas in oatmeal, but since I’ve never had to start a baby on solids before, I am still feeling QUITE proud of my discovery.)

The downside to the bananas is that they are, um, binding? so I can’t give him too much. I steamed and pureed pears this evening and almost ruined a stockpot in the process. Luckily, Martha Stewa…ummmm…Dan….was able to salvage the pot by scrubbing off my mess using a mixture of baking soda and water. Joshua loved the pears. LOVED them. I can’t wait to give them to him again in the morning.

Next up, later this week, we’re going to try avocados again. We tried them the night we made the banana discovery and he ate them, but didn’t seem wild about them. Now that he understands the solids thing a little better, I’ll give them another shot.

As for how my days back at work went, they were busy. Like, OMGWTFBBQ busy. And they are over. And I am not ready for school to start back on Monday. I’m so not ready I’m going in tomorrow (yes, on Sunday) to run copies of my course outline and calendars and to finish arranging my classroom. It should only be a couple of hours of work, but it sucks that I even have to be up there on a Sunday in the first place. Stupid economy.

I’m both looking forward to the new school year and not looking forward to it. I have this overwhelming fear that I’ll either fail as a teacher or fail as Joshua’s mother. I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to do both and do both well. I love my job but I love my son more. It’s going to be a really tough year.