Niños!

Life is going pretty well over here in Seeley land.

Each day Lily does better and better at guardería. Today was day three and we had no problems leaving the house, which is abnormal at any time of the day, as Lily is in a phase in which every time I say we're going out she grabs her blankie and says she is going to sleep and goes to lay on her bed. What a weirdo.

Anyway, we got out of the house in a flash but she started getting a little upset when we got to the school; nothing compared to days one or two, though. When I picked her up, she was all silly and fun and the teacher said she had only cried intermittently in the first hour but not at all thereafter.

Yesterday and today we've had the best time together; I think we appreciate each other more. Additionally, without Lily in the mornings, I've been able to complete paperwork and important emails and phonecalls, prepare food, and generally just prepare for the rest of the day so that when we're together, it's just playing and running routine errands around the neighborhood. I will appreciate every moment of this lifestyle while it lasts since one day, not likely soon due to summer travels, but someday, I'll have a job. I have to say, I feel like a bit of a bon-bon eating diva housemom having a kid in nursery while I don't have a job, but on the flip side, I'm using the time well and REALLY REALLY appreciate the difference it has made for me and our relationship in just three days.

I'm also seeing benefits in Lily already. She seems to have connected with her teacher Cristina. I try to talk about her a few times a day and this afternoon when we were talking about school she said, "I want Cristina," more than once, which is clearly a good sign. After the second day we went straight to the park and Lily ran off and played without me for about 20 minutes before she asked me to join her. While Lily can play on her own or with other kids, we usually have to struggle a bit to get these things to happen. I usually want to play with her and enjoy it, but sometimes really need 20 minutes of newspaper-reading-sanity time. This is usually denied and I am serenaded with, "Mommy, come. Come play!" I'm not complaining here because it won't be long before I am complaining that I wish she wanted to play with me. Sigh.

The final positive result is that Lily has gone niño-tastic. She could say the word niño and niña before and would call kids by those words, but now she is highly aware of large groups of children, screaming out "Niños!" every time we see them. This may not be entirely due to her time spent in class with a group of kids, but it sure is funny. She even got mad today when we passed a school yard that is usually full children and it was empty. She yelled, "Niños! Where are the niños?!" Why is this a positive benefit? Not entirely sure, but it just says "good" to me.