What To Do?

Oh man, we've had an interesting eight days. Cooper's a-scratchin hard on his head. His screams are still blood curling. We've tried just about every cream and lotion for his eczema. None of it works except for Burt Bee's Baby Bee cream. Abbie's got a nice stash of moisturizers though, there's the positive. He's taken to sleeping in his swing now...and only in his swing. He won't lay in his bassinet anymore. He'll sleep in our bed, but once you put him down and he doesn't sense either himself moving or our body heat, he starts fussing. Very frustrating.

Oh, by the way, he's over 14 lbs now.

Poor guy has had to adjust to Mommy being gone for work. The first week was hell for Abbie and for Cooper. Abbie told me tonight it was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do...harder than giving birth (and believe me, that wasn't an easy thing to do). Cooper's reactions to staying home with Daddy on Tuesdays and staying with Ms. Cheryl (his day care provider) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, has not been pleasant for him. Fridays belong to G.G., but Abbie stayed home last Friday because she needed her son, and he needed his mom. Tomorrow, G.G.'s on her own.

At his age, he doesn't realize that, once we're out of eye sight, we still exist. He only knows that Mommy's here and Mommy's not here. He knows when I feed him that I'm not Mommy, and he didn't know how to react to me feeding him. He'd be getting food, but not looking at Mommy. Last week and this week have just been adjustments for him. He's had to come to grips with Mommy not being there 24/7. He's had to adjust to Ms. Cheryl and her style of day care. He's had to adjust to being cared for by Daddy alone. It's been a traumatic time for the boy. Y'know, in Canada, they give mother's a year of maternity leave. Well, blame Canada! And then blame our society for putting work and making a buck before family.

Today was his best day yet. He didn't require his sling to sleep during the day. He fed well with both me and Cheryl. And he's been relatively pleasant all day. This morning, for me at least, was the best morning I've had with him. I know this...come time for him to go to Kindergarten, I'm dropping him off so he doesn't have separation anxiety with his mother (and likewise, her to him).

Oh the joys of parenting. Why didn't our parents warn us? Or maybe they did and we just chose to ignore them.