Six Months Now!

All the pictures the other day were of Camila, but Emiliana is now 6 months old and I have some GREAT pictures! More and more she loves for us to sing-song her name to her instead of simply "Emi". I wonder if she's going to insists on her full name as she gets older. Weird how early personalities come out!

For anyone wondering, the Moms Day Out saga continued today. Their mother couldn't take her, so I was stuck dropping Camila off, which really I had to do anyway because soon I will have to do it and she needs to know I'll come back. (We decided give it 4 tries and reconvene at that time.) It was SOOOO hard! As soon as I turned onto the street she started sniffling and tearing up and asking, "Baba, you come back?"

"Yes, baby, I will ALWAYS come back. You're just going to play for a little while."

We did that probably 10 times in the 2 minutes it took to get there. I turned off the car and turned around. Her face was PITIFUL. Her lip naturally pops out when she's upset (it was the CUTEST thing as a baby), and her eyes were shiny. She tried to be brave but started crying. I felt like a HORRIBLE person. I picked her up and gave her a hug and reminded her I would be back, but she was just going to play for a little while, it would be okay. She stopped crying but kept sniffling as we walked in. I got her to her classroom then she started crying again. I had to practice all my old daycare advice about giving "a quick, cheerful goodbye before they sense you're upset too", and made it out to the car.

I had told her mom I would check on her after an hour, but knew if I didn't leave the premises it would be every 10 minutes. I got a smoothie then returned to the parking lot to read and drink my smoothie.

Just as the hour was almost up, a buzzer started sounding and children and adults poured from the building. Fire drill--on the second day! I know it's necessary, but could we not give these poor kids a week to get used to things before traumatizing them??? On the bright side, the teachers did great telling the kids that this time, everything was okay but they were going to do it sometimes so if anything ever did happen, everyone would know what to do.

I heard all this loud and clear because when children started coming out I leaped into the back of my van and laid on the floor so if Camila came out she wouldn't see me. I was already in trouble if she saw the car but if she saw me it was over with. Thankfully her classroom is toward the back of the building so they used another exit and meeting area. I felt like a freak crouching on the floor of the van, though, with teachers walking back and forth. I was just waiting for someone to call the cops about the stalker in the parking lot.

Anyway, I gave her 10 minutes to calm down then peeked through her (door) window without letting her see me. She didn't look happy at all, but she wasn't crying. Just chewing her fingers and watching everybody. I wanted to take her home, but for the sake of sticking to our trial period, left her there.

When I picked her up, I could tell she had cried several times, but the teacher said she did better than she did the first day and is still using the potty like a big girl. Her teacher seems very nice and from what I can see is a good fit for her personality. She's approachable, but doesn't seem like she pushes herself on the kids before they're ready. Camila's first words was "Baba came back!" She repeated it all the way home. :( It breaks my heart that she has to reassure herself like that. So we'll see....

She LOVES mirrors!

I am SO proud of this picture. It's just adorable!

She is very proud of her ability to sit up by herself and is drawing her knees up under her so crawling will follow soon!