The Dawn of a New Day

Natalie started day care a week ago! She is now going to a small family day care a couple blocks from our house... we decided that she needed to be around more children, and it was time for something new.

Here is a pic of Natalie on her last day of share care with her wonderful former nanny, Rose... she really, really loves Rose. We miss her.

Trying to capture Natalie's former share care buddy Kai in the picture...but I was unsuccessful. Kai and Rose found a new family to take our place in the share arrangement, so they probably don't miss us as much as we miss them (ha! ha!) -
Last weekend, to get our minds off of the upcoming adjustment, we took Natalie to a place we hadn't seen in over two years - Cornerstone Place! The weather was about 20 degrees cooler than it was last time we were there, which means it was a balmy 90 degrees last Saturday. Ahh, refreshing.

(For our newer friends and blog readers, Tyler's parents held our lovely rehearsal dinner at Cornerstone Gardens two years ago - it was 110 degrees that day, and 115 the next as we said "I Do" in an OUTDOOR wedding at 4 p.m. - it's a miracle all of our friends and family members survived, particularly one of our attendants who was six weeks pregnant at the time)!

As you can see, Natalie had a grand time. They have definitely made some changes to the gardens and shops in the last two years, though some exhibits remained the same. And they still have a blue tree.
And here's Natalie on her first day of "school"! She had her bag full of treats to bring with her (diapers, change of clothes, sippy cup, diaper cream - all the essentials).

(p.s. lest you think we are some freewheeling, unsanitary household - Reese is not normally allowed on the counter - in the mayhem of Natalie's first morning at day care, she must have taken advantage of our laxness...)

I wish I could say that all went swimmingly this week. I will say this though - Natalie is a model daycare attendee! While she's there, she is generally happy - eats well - naps well. When she comes home, though, she's so tired that she fusses until time to go to bed. It will take her some time to snap into the new routine with all of her new friends and in the meantime, we will be patient. She has also already brought back her first souvenir... a head cold! Whee!!!!

And a lovely video of little miss wobbly-walker. She's doing wonderfully with her new skill, though since she is tall and skinny with a large noggin, she wobbles and falls a lot. But she improves every day and keeps trying, and we are quite proud!