There is something profoundly bizarre about leaving your home, not to mention your child, in the care of a complete stranger. But it kind of reminds me of that commercial where a man on the street is asked to watch $100,000, and just sits there dutifully and waits - the majority of people will do the honorable thing when asked. So this person will keep my baby safe and happy for three hours. And she did. She worked out just great and I'm excited to use her again.
It's funny, whenever I go out without the baby people always ask, "where's the baby?" My stock answer is always, "he's in the car. He'll be fine." I guess this is how people in relationships feel, always being asked where their significant other is.
I can't say last night was "worth it" in the sense of "were the three not-great dances I got worth $40?", but you really can't look at it that way. I have a monthly budget for child care, and I can do anything I want within that budget. So if it means a not-great night of dancing, it still means I got out, I saw friends, I got to wear a non-breastfeeding friendly outfit. And Bumpus got to have a new experience with a new person. Whenever we travel or I leave him with a sitter he's always different after - I think his brain is stimulated by the change. Last night after the sitter left he was making all kinds of new sounds. And in my first trip east he started rolling, and the second he started reaching. So, new people around him must mean something.
I also was given a new idea for my event, which is having a music track, something more events are doing as more dancers get interested in learning instruments. It's great because it would only cost me the teacher's fees (no dance floor rental required) and would be a great "added value" aspect of the camp. So that idea was for sure worth $40.
In other news, he is suddenly HUGE. My delicate, slim little boy is as solid as a linebacker and heavy. I have a hard time holding him on my shoulder now and carrying him down the steps in his little carrier is starting to be a real strain. I'm kind of dreading the getting in/out of the car thing as he gets bigger but can't walk yet (my house is up three flights of stairs). It's already a real struggle to get him and bags of groceries up every week or so...I may have to go back to grocery delivery. Which is too bad, because I kind of like going grocery shopping.
The LA County Museum of Art has this amazing program that gives kids free memberships and their accompanying adult gets in free, too. Every Sunday they have free art projects for kids. My painter guy told me about it. I've signed us up. I think we're going to have a blast with that!
We also start baby swim classes next week, so excited! So maybe I'm not a total slacker "walk yourself to McDonald's" mother after all.
Here's a pic of us in NY:
sweet photo!
ReplyDeleteI think that your line backer boy may start to feel a little lighter, well, at least Calliope did, as she got stronger -- she sort of curled around me, monkey-like, maybe around 6 months. that made it easier to carry her, even though she wasn't actually lighter.
It is an odd feeling to have someone come into your home to babysit rather than taking them somewhere. The first time I had someone come to the house I felt like my privacy was violated somehow. Then when I hired the nanny I thought it was weird that I would trust her with my kid, but I always took my lap top with me (you know, the place all deep dark secrets are stored).
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