Toby's new friend : BAGBAT

Day #2 of day care was not quite such a success. Toby cried when I left. And apparently cried throughout the day when his braveness gave way to questioning about Mama? or Dada? and ended in tears. He was quite easily distracted and the tears “didn’t last long” but still - - it’s probably some ancient-mommy-torture method that somehow evolved into a socially accepted form of babysitting. A few times today, I found myself thinking, “Do I REALLY need to work? Do these 1000 patients of mine REALLY need me as much as my 18 month old son?” The answer is obvious, but not quite so black and white when you unwillingly pry their hugging arms away from you and turn and walk away from their tears. I think the WORST part is that you just never know WHEN they stop crying. Usually I can tke the tears when I am the one distracting him and hugging him and making it better. You see that they go away – it’s rudimentary psychology – tears end, mommy feels better. We all carry on with our day. But the whole DAYCARE thing just kind of leaves Mommy hanging…All. Day. Long.

As hard as today was on ALL of us, by 5pm, all three of us found ourselves happily back at home and together. And what better way to celebrate, than a ride on the swings and a chat about our day. Toby and I have been working on learning the names of his daycare workers - Ruth (“Rah”), Nora (“Na-nah”) and Emma (“Me-ma”). Eager to impress daddy with his new nomenclature, I asked Toby as we were swinging WHO he had played with at daycare today…

“BAG-BAT!”

We were both a little surprised by the answer. So I rephrased the question,

“Was NORAH at daycare today?”

“Na-nah”

“Who else was at day care today?”

“BAG-BAT!”

Rob and I pried and questioned for the next 20 minutes but every question we asked about daycare ended with the definitive and almighty, “BAG-BAT!”

We are not sure WHO “Bagbat” is. Or WHAT he is. Or what PURPOSE he holds at daycare. But one thing is certain : Toby is a big fan…