Augustus: is now 15 weeks old. Dante and I were looking at photos of him at Augie's age and they look quite similar, although Dante was much whiter and always had a binky in his mouth. Now that we're back in NYC and Augie is being put down more and left to his own devices, he's developing at a more rapid pace.
He's grabbing for objects and kicking his feet and hands to get things to move. He'll stare at objects and will his hands and feet into that direction with intense focus, eyes wide and a bit of drool in his mouth. I'm less apt to jump at every whimper and he's learning to be on his own more.
I can't tend to him so much with Dante around either. He's still sleeping in bed with me, 5-6 hours at a stretch, which is nice. I'm going to do the transition when I get back from Texas - they both need to be sleeping in their own beds. I'll stop nursing then too and will sleep train him to get my own sense of sanity back. I'm trying to imagine how this is going to work when I return to Google in March - and it stresses me out. I don't think I'll be able to do it without and Au Pair, so I should seriously think about that. I'm unsure of having someone live here 24/7. I guess I could try it for a year.
Dante: Things ended up working out for the best with the pre-school after all. Funny how somethings are meant to be - that's what my mom said and she's right. We were all set to commit to the Village Kids Nursery when I saw a one sheet advertisement for an independent toddler care taped to the gate of Thompkins Square Park playground. I phoned and spoke with this kind Puerto Rican woman Sharon who runs a small 10 kid daycare in an apartment on 13th St and Avenue A.
Both Rahav and I liked the place and Dante felt comfortable and at home playing with the kids - with the cars of course. They have a program of daily circle time, activities, music and such and have flexible hours and days. And the craziest!! it's $5 an hour!! WOW.. the other centers are $20-25 an hour - we were floored. The place is not fancy, but it's small, clean, colorful and cozy feeling, similar to Buckle My Shoe, which Sharon once worked at before starting her own daycare 14 years ago.
And the small class size with a variety of kids from 2-5 years makes it great for Dante to relate to kids of different levels. The location isn't as convenient for Rahav as the other two - but, we're giving it a shot! This might be just the small, intimate environment he needs to gain a bit of independence away from us.
Me: My life is pretty much kids still, haven't seen many friends since I've been back, although I've gone out with my co-workers a bit - to the engineering xmas party at the natural history museum and to a movie Fantastic Mr. Fox. it would be nice to see the girls a bit or at least chat on the phone, but I'm exhausted at night still and have been getting up at 5am with Augie and then 6am with Dante. I could be more strict and keep them in bed til 7am - but I'm saving that for after the holidays. I am enforcing more rules though on Dante and letting Augie deal with himself a bit more. I have to or I get no me time and will go bonkers.
I have a list of a few things I want to get done each day - everything else can fall off the radar for now. Not sure when I'll get to that list but it's OK for now. Much of it is home improvement, I should have my mom come help me with :-) but since I own my place, I'm not going anywhere and the stuff can be done in little pieces, it's not the most important, which is spending time with kids and friends and sanity - lol
