What goes up, must come down, and then hopefully goes up again…
That’s what last week felt like for us. We were coming off of the high of a weekend at the coast with friends, sun, good food and fun and had to start working again. We were already feeling the effects of transitioning to work from a fun and eventful (and long) weekend and then we were hit with another speed bump. At the end of the day it was discussed that Lottie’s dad would be visiting and the nanny expressed concern of people flying in and possibly being exposed and this led to a dramatic confrontation in our backyard that ended there but then picked back up with two long phone call conversations between myself and the nanny first and then with Sarah second. It was midnight and Bryan and I were still all wound up and anxious about what decisions lay ahead and how all of this would roll out.
We made the group decision to sit on the conversation from Monday for a few nights to make sense of it all and sort it out before coming together to talk about it again. Needless to say, on Tuesday I was tired! The week went more or less normally but we had some long talks with Sarah to discuss our options and opinions in the evenings. Sarah and Lottie joined us for a spaghetti and meatball dinner at home on Tuesday and continued the conversation Wednesday with a walk around the neighborhood. By Thursday, Bryan and I were making excuses to leave the house in the middle of the day to tour the daycare in Capitol Hill that have spots (miraculously) for both Reese and Lottie, before picking up brunch to go from a cafe around the corner and have one last “meeting” with Sarah to discuss plans and how we were going to present this to the nanny.
Thursday was the day, the day where we were going to lay out our options on the table and either start Reese in daycare soon or in the fall. Fortunately the meeting went calmly and without any debate. Also fortunately, the nanny stuck with her decision, making our plans easy to solidify. We ended the conversation on good terms and I felt a huge sense of relief, but also a great sadness as Friday marked the last day the girls would be together by themselves in the nanny share that we have had going for nearly 18 months. It all happened so suddenly that prevented much grandeur for the last day or really gave any time for the nanny to say her goodbyes to Lottie and the mighty duo. I did walk with the nanny and the girls to get donuts from Raised in the morning. And we had our weekly Friday happy hour with the drink the Bootleg and cheese and crackers on our back deck. But then Lottie had to say goodbye to Joie and it was sad and sweet. The girls don’t know an era is ending but we do. They also don’t know what is in store for them. They will both start daycare on Monday, July 20th.
The three of us continued the night with a walk to the neighborhood farmers market to get a few flats of berries before heading home for a movie in the backyard and burgers and fries on the grill. Everything still seemed rather normal.
Saturday was supposed to be our good weather day of the weekend so after banana pancakes we got ready for our long bike ride of the weekend. We left in time for Reese’s nap time in the Chariot and set out for Alki beach, past the beach and to Lincoln Park on the west-side of West Seattle. It was a 15 mile ride one way and we enjoyed a long time at the park, having a snack, throwing rocks in the water and playing on the animal sculptures before walking our bikes back about 1/2 a mile to a small park where a lone swing awaited an unknowing Reese. Reese had forgotten the word “swing” as it had been that long since she last swung. March 4th to be exact, the day we got back from New York. The smile on her face was priceless and she didn’t want to end the swinging. Finally she agreed to and we set back for home, with Reese getting another short nap in on the way home. We arrived home and ordered the family meal from Soi to enjoy at home with a movie.
Sunday was supposed to be the less pleasant day and so we did our usual Sunday morning grocery pickup run to Safeway and treated ourselves to donuts (Reese can put down a full chocolate bar no problem…then refuses to eat anything else the rest of the day and I still call myself a good parent). We played around the house and were generally all in a stupor until after Reese’s nap was over and we decided to head out for a walk since the weather had cleared and was glorious. The walk did us good and we finished the weekend at home with a Southern feast of sorts, ending with bread pudding with bourbon caramel sauce and ice cream.
To top off the week with stress on Reese’s childcare, work was killer for me. I went into the week with little to do but once I was asked for help on some tasks from the East Coast offices on the Catskills project, my entire work week flipped on its head and was nothing short of overwhelming. Fortunately I got it done and don’t expect the same out of this week.
Reese is flying solo with the nanny for her last week and we actually will be bringing her into daycare twice this week to help with the transition into daycare, so it’s even shorter than normal. I’m very curious how Reese will react to all this newness. Before she was so confident and eager to play with new kids and experience new things but she has (either naturally with age or unnaturally with what’s going on in the world) become more reserved and shy around strangers and the outside world in general. I don’t blame her, she’s spent now nearly a quarter of her life just in our small house with people she knows well. I’m excited to expand her horizons and hopefully find more friends and renewed confidence in herself. We will be watching closely that she just doesn’t lose her zest for life.
Nearing the beginning of a new chapter for us…fingers crossed.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 