NolieWeek

That's like Shark Week, but with a wild and fascinating four-year-old instead of marine creatures.  Both have sharp teeth, but the big difference is that sharks are relatively quiet, and four-year-olds talk.  All day long.

I was a little nervous about this week because the babysitter who used to fill in for us when the kids' preschool was closed moved to the mountains.  We haven't found a great substitute (haven't looked, actually) so that meant I was on deck, balancing Nolie care with a full workload.  It's the second week of classes at the college, so the timing was far from perfect.

But it's been a lovely week.  Bittersweet, in fact.  Nolie has loved it.  Just every minute of it.  My hypothesis that she would be most happy sitting in my lap every second of the day was proved true.  Also, I've loved having her with me.  She has been unfailingly sweet and entertaining and patient.  She's an absolute lovebug, a nice palliative to Addie's grown-up 'tude (also a phase, I realize).  And I've been able to get a surprising amount of work done, thanks to some DVDs from the library, a killer art set we picked up at the thrift store this summer, and some very understanding colleagues.

I did have to put Nolie in childcare at the Y for four hours yesterday because I had meetings and class, and E. said that when he picked her up she was whiny and wailing about missing me.  I will admit to feeling the slightest bit of pride about this.  Not happy that she was sad, but glad she noticed I was gone.

But, of course, her school opens back up next week and I have to get back to working in my office without a My Little Pony video playing in the background.  She will have to go back out into the world to figure things out with her friends and teachers, and continue to grow and blossom.  I will go back to feeling guilty about my kids being in daycare for so much of their lives, and wondering what it would be like for us two to pal around and do everything together all the time.

Though I won't overly romanticize that.  I won't, for example, miss playing Harry Potter, Nolie's most favorite imagination game.  "Mommy, let's play Harry Potter.  I'll be Hermione.  You be Harry.  Harry, there's You-Know-Who!  Let's do a spell.  No, you have to call me Hermione.  YOU HAVE TO CALL ME HERMIONE!"

Sounds adorable, but after three hours, you want to jump off the dock.  Trust me on that one.

Thanks, my little shark, for a fun and exciting week.