Quick updates

How is school going?

Great. Tomorrow is the start of the sixth week of school. As you remember, during the first weeks, Zeke was not excited to be left at school and often started in tears when I set him down. His teachers said that he was doing really well after I left, though. I tested this out one day, by leaving and then standing behind the door where I could still hear him. As soon as I was out of sight, he stopped crying! Big faker. Zeke has been doing a lot of art projects (with teacher help) that now cover our refrigerator. Zeke has also fallen completely in love with his lunch box. I have a hard time packing it or even opening the cupboard it lives in, because he starts demanding the lunch box. I have a lot fun trying to think of new things to put in his lunch box, so I am glad that he seems so appreciative of the effort. On the days when he is in class, I rush around catching up on doctor's appointments, car appointments, cleaning or working. Those eight hours a week are so precious!

Then last week, a breakthrough. No tears or resistance whatsoever when leaving. He even blew me a kiss as I was leaving. Still, you should see the absolute look of joy when he sees me come back in the afternoon. I concede, that is rewarding.

I'm still curious to see how the teachers and children interact, though. I want to drop by and observe, but am afraid that Zeke would behave differently if I was there, as in he would be velcroed to me the entire class. It's not that I suspect that anything is going wrong, I'm just so curious to see how the class operates and how Zeke interacts. I'm tempted to see if I can observe class on the days that Zeke isn't attending.

I'm also curious, because I have started wondering if I want Zeke to attend more days when he turns two -- I'm trying to figure out if I want more time to do more work. Right now, the costs of paying for childcare and of not being with Zeke are too high, but I am considering it.

How are the cloth diapers working?

Just fine. The ones we got are very similar to disposables in their style and absorbancy. I probably could have been doing this pretty easily all along. We have a lot less trash, but a lot more wash. I've been having to experiment with our wash routine for the diapers and have learned more than I ever anticipated about the different cycle options on the washer, as well as about different detergents. I'm emboldened to maybe even try some other styles, though I may not go the route of friend and neighbor Deb, who uses diaper pins with her cloth diapers. Obviously, her child does not try to escape to the degree Zeke does when being diapered! Either Zeke or I would end up with enough holes to be a sieve if I tried diaper pins.