The Dada and Cole Connection

It's been a busy and stressful past few weeks. Never before has my job been so utterly unenjoyable. What with a student teacher, curriculum mapping and end of the quarter grading blues, I could not manage to pull myself out of the weeds until two weekends ago when Keith took Cole to Grandma's for an entire day. That's when I finally wrapped my head around my grading and pulled myself up by the bootstraps. Then the week that followed came with more stress, but on the personal level, and I am still looking back on it wondering how I made it through the work week with all of the worries I carried inside of me.

I'm sure you are all wondering, though, how the Big Changes have affected our family. And I have to say, that after the first two weeks on our new schedule, it is most definitely a positive change. Keith and I are so glad he took this leap. Our time with Cole is now more focused. And it is just that - Our Time. We value it, and we give him our complete attention. We are not jockeying for time on the computer, or in the bathroom or where ever. We're apart and alone with Cole. And we value our time as a family more too. Cole is benefitting from it for sure. He's sleeping better and he's happier, bouncing around and saying "Happy!" He looks forward to his two days a week with his friends at school, and is so happy when I come home on the days he's with Dada. He and Keith are connecting on a whole new level. In fact, when I came home with him on Thursday, after picking him up from school, he actually leaned over to Keith and asked for Keith to hold him instead. It was so sweet! It made me happy to see that he feels that connected to Dada that he's willing to part from me.

Some other ways the Big Changes have affected our family:
We've discovered that Cole's natural wake up time is 7:30 a.m., sometimes even 8 a.m.

Cole has stopped nursing in the morning on most weekdays because we let him sleep until his natural wake up time. We used to wake him up at 6:15 a.m. so I could nurse and he could see Mama just before she left for work. But now, he's alright with not seeing Mama upon wake up.

The cats are happier that we're home more, but, *Sigh* that doesn't mean they are fed more.

Mama can stay after work for a few extra minutes and not feel guilty! What a wonderful feeling.

We eat together as a family at around 5:15 p.m., before Keith leaves for work. Eating that early and that consistently is very different from our previous dinner times. Once, Cole actually ate dinner before having his afternoon Doo Doo. I'd never think that was possible before!

Cole's nightly routine is more predictable now that it's just he and I four nights a week. I changed his routine a bit too, so that it wouldn't rely so heavily on nursing to sleep (although sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures). I'll allow him to nurse before bath. We'll read books after bath. We brush teeth before bath. You get the drift. The only drawback is that when it takes him 2 hours to stay asleep, it's Cole and I those whole 2 hours. No rest for the weary.

This is evidence of our pathetic winter.

Shopping with Cole has started to look like this.

And this...

This is a pic of Cole during one of our evenings together. Apple sauce all over his favorite  (and only) robe.