The other woman

He ditched me for Vicky.

Sure he was clingy and cuddly and he let me change him to his outdoor shoes, but as soon as Vicky held out her hand to take him to the playground, he let go of me and, without looking back, just walked out the door. No tears. No hesitation. Leaving me there stunned and empty. Wasn't it just a couple of months ago when he was inconsolable at the thought of being left at daycare? Oh, wait, that was me.

But seriously...it is so nice to see my little boy growing up. I know there is absolutely no substitute for our love, but it is so nice having the support of great teachers.

Dex is having a great time at daycare. He loves playground time where he has his choice of bikes to test his gross motor skills, the sandbox and the garden for sensory stimulation, and on Wednesdays all this summer, he gets water play in a nice wading pool. Inside the building, he loves all the puzzles and other educational toys to help him develop his fine motor skills. He also loves doing creative, messy play. He's got a little locker and at the end of the day, I often find his fine artwork there -- craft paper with bits of randomly arranged stickers, or feathers glued on cardboard, or manic swirls of paint applied by hand.

He is learning so much. The other day, at dinner, he lifted his arm to the side of his face and made a "hrrrhmpff" sound. "Are you an elephant," I asked. "Yeah," he said, looking very pleased with himself. Or sometimes, he would roar or sing the chorus from the "Seals on the Bus," one of his favourite books at daycare (kinda like Wheels on the Bus, but the bus is filled with seals, geese, monkeys, and other animals.) His teachers do a great job with the programming and there is always something new for him to experience.

Today was "crazy hair" day so before heading off to daycare, we spent part of the morning trying to spike up his fine hair. All we managed was a modified Einstein look. In the end, Einstein ditched me for Vicky. Vicky had her beautiful dark hair in tiny little ponytails with multicoloured elastics all over. Now how can I compete with that?