What You Don't See

I snapped this picture at about 9:30 this morning. Yesterday was officially Noble's last day at daycare. It wasn't what we'd planned, no, but it's what needed to happen. So I'm dealing with work stuff and pushing deadlines around and...dealing. Because as much as it is, this one's not about me.

Today's been a good day. I took this picture, though, because it captured one GREAT moment this morning...a morning that I hope will be representative of things to come. What you can't see is that he's just learned the concepts of "in" and "out," which was fun. You can't see him talking and telling me that he wants "blue playdoh"...practically a miracle, as he normally calls everything "yellow." But there's more that you can't see, which is really my point...

...I cropped the first picture so you couldn't see that he's in his diaper. What else can't you see? You can't see that he's wearing the shirt he wore to daycare yesterday. Yep. That's what he slept in--it was a rough evening and a rough morning, and changing his clothes was at the bottom of the priority list :). You also can't see that right after I took this picture, I asked if he was ready for a shower and he was...so he ran into the bathroom. I had to carry him back out to help me clean up the playdoh, but he'd already switched gears and wasn't having it. So I had to make him clean up (hand-over-hand...I didn't "force" him, that sounded bad). But it does get bad...because you also don't see him getting mad and dumping everything out of the basket. And you don't see me raising my voice and telling him "NO!!!!!!!!" And you don't see him throwing (yep, you read that right) the monkey's head after I told him "no!"

And...you get the point. You don't see exactly what I don't want you to see. That's the beauty of a blog, and facebook--I can show you the side of me I want you to see. But around here, we try to keep it real, because it doesn't do any of us any good for me to pretend I'm perfect or good at this stuff. Some days suck, and aren't so pretty to look at. Some days I get it pretty close to right, and that's a cool feeling. So expect some pictures of a dirty little boy running around in his diaper at 9:30 in the morning...that's real. And expect some posts about my learning curve as I learn--once again--to be a full-time Mommy and part-time Consultant. I haven't a clue how that last part's going to work, but it has to work. :)

So that's day one. Warts and all.