School Days (and Shoes!)

Yesterday Landon had his first day of school- well, really just daycare, but calling it school meant I could force JP to smile through the obligatory "first day of school" pictures taken outside our front door in the morning. Landon looked snazzy in colorful shorts, red shirt, and black and yellow crocs.

JP didn't understand why Landon was allowed to wear crocs outside the house when he isn't, but I explained that this was the rare exception to the rule as I realized only that morning that Landon did not have any shoes. Up until now he has lived his life barefoot- shoes just seemed unnecessary when it was 100+ degrees outside and he wasn't walking. I rectified the situation with a late Monday night run to the mall and he's now the proud owner of adorable mini black converse sneakers. See how I can turn any post into a discussion of shoes? Speaking of which, how cute are these?

I got them very on sale at Ann Taylor while I was hunting for Landon's shoes (what? Ann Taylor could have had the perfect pair for him) and now I'm planning my whole outfit around them tomorrow. My feet will one day revolt against me, but for now, I love my heels!

Anyway, daycare. All three of us handled the big drop-off well. Landon immediately dove out of my arms when he saw the other babies and ALL the new toys and things he could bang on the floor. JP and I said hello to his new teachers, filled a cubby with his accessories (fitted sheet, blanket, extra clothes, diapers, wipes, walky talkie wired to ring in mommy's office if a baby is mean to him- you know, the usual), and gave him a kiss on the forehead. He looked mildly concerned as we walked out the door, but seemed content to chug his cup of milk and stare at the baby sitting next to him. JP rushed off to class, I drove to work, and then we both logged in to the center's cameras to check on the little guy. Each classroom has a video camera on the ceiling and parents are given a password to view their child's room. At various points during the day I saw Landon push a chair across the room, carefully move a pile of trucks from one location to another, eat his lunch, and listen to a man playing guitar. He seemed pretty pleased with his new surroundings. When I went to pick him up at 5:30 I could see him sitting happily on a mat with the other toddlers (there are 8 in the class, ages 12-20 months), but as soon as he saw me coming his little face crumpled and he buried his head in my neck with big tears. I think he was just exhausted. I know from the cameras and the little "daily report" the teachers give you that he had a good day. We enjoyed a quiet evening at home with lots of dog petting, swinging on the playscape (Landon now points out the window with great conviction every time we pass the back door - he adores that swing), and crawling up and down the stairs. It was nice to be so excited to be with him - I didn't check my email, answer my phone, or look wistfully at the clock, wishing it was a little closer to bedtime. I just enjoyed him.

This morning's drop off also went well. He leaped out of my arms again, but this time started looking around with a worried expression when he noticed I wasn't on the floor with him. I said goodbye, gave him a kiss, and walked out the door (tempting as it would be to sneak out when he's distracted, I think that would be much worse in the long run - I don't want him scared that if he turns around mommy will disappear). He looked like he was going to cry, but I peaked through the window around the corner and he was smiling at his teacher and banging a plastic car on the floor. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. I know that some time soon he's going to start getting clingy as soon as we walk in the door and I'm dreading it. Dropping him off was much harder than I anticipated.

Work is going very well. I've got the challenging task of drafting the language for a new, unusual stock option agreement for an Austin startup company (one great thing about working in this office - very cool, mostly small, corporate clients). I've also recently received a huge capital markets due diligence assignment - remember that stack of barbri books that was nearly as tall as Landon? The stack of documents I need to comb through is taller than that. But I'm secretly happy about it; I love busywork, especially busywork that requires a bit of brain power, but not so much that you're worried your brain isn't up to the task. I like keeping the precarious balance between being bored and hiding under my desk- due diligence tends toward the rote and things like creating a contract from scratch make me at least check out the square footage under my office furniture. And luckily there's plenty of space- now whether I use it first to cower from an assignment that I'm sure was explained to me in Greek or to hide my tears on the day Landon doesn't exit my arms on his own volition, only time will tell.