Turning Away the Paparazzi

I can't help it. When I am around this beautiful soul, I can't breathe without trying to capture it in still photos.

Jeremy cut an upper left tooth! Good-bye, sweet gummy smile! At least for another 80 years.

As life/luck would have it, we have found a wonderful day care for Jeremy. We have heard wonderful tales about Teacher Robert for several years, because Jeremy's little friend Claire has been cared for by Teacher Robert until a couple of months ago when she graduated to pre-school. Teacher Robert didn't have an opening in his small home-based day care several months ago when we were weighing our child care options. When we were left suddenly au pair-less, serendipity led us back to him, and he welcomed Jeremy with his sweet loving arms. Jeremy spent two days there this week so far, and has come home to us happy and inspired. The vibe is perfect. Life works out.

We still can have a replacement au pair come live with us if we want, and we may need one to help when Barb has her surgery. (What surgery, you ask? Stay tuned until October 19th.) But we are so happy we have found Teacher Robert, because Jeremy seems to be stimulated by the loving and interactive days he has there. So, our current plan is to have Jeremy go to Robert's a couple of days a week, and then maybe have an au pair help us out in the evenings and during Barb's recuperation.

Yay! We're raising a tree-hugger! 

Conducting an imaginary symphony.

Lessons Learned

Dear Jeremy,

Your mommies know you are confused. We are so sorry about the changes in our house over the last few weeks. We thought having a live-in baby sitter would be best for you, so you could be cared for in familiar surroundings by a loving member of the family. Regretfully, Bella had different expectations than we did, and she was very unhappy.

We promise that we will work to make diaper changing silly and fun again. And we will get up and cuddle with you all night long until you feel safe and secure again. And we will only leave you with a baby sitter who loves you and truly enjoys helping you explore this big, crazy world.

As a way of moving forward thoughtfully, we want to share with you the lessons we have learned, or the important values that were reinforced, through this experience.

1. As amazing as you are, be humble and never stop learning from others.
2. If you go to Rome, walk in Italian shoes, gaze through Gucci sunglasses, and drink Valpolicella.
3. If you are about to do something that someone you care about will hate you for, don't do it.
4. We are good people, even if we don't have a swimming pool. Or any movie stars.
5. Read.
6. Be proud to be an American who believes in peace.
7. If you accept an invitation into someone else's home, don't judge the way they live.
8. It's not all about you. Everything you do will affect others, whether you intend it or not.
9. On that last point, resist your own self-pity when hundreds of thousands of less fortunate people are displaced from their families and homes by a disaster of biblical proportions.
10. Love life and laugh well, and share that love and laughter with others.

With unending love for you, my son,

Mama Nay

Jeremy shows his cousin Kara a few sparring moves. 

Jeremy seems to love containers as much as his Mommy Barb, who is the ultimate Tupperware Queen.