Alex had his first day at childcare on Monday, and it went well. I stayed with him for the first hour to make sure he was ok, and he was. By the time I picked him up in the afternoon, he had drunk both bottles of milk and had had two cat naps and two longer ones. All in all he was doing well. the carers seemed to like him enough. He is the youngest baby they have had in a long while, and aside from another baby (who is four months old now), the other children are all at least 6-9 months older.
When I went to pick him up, the other children were playing outside and I didn't see Alex. i was about to ask one of the carers where he was when I thought to look into the cot room, and there he was, fast asleep in the arms of a carer who was cradling him. It was really sweet of her. He was having a bit of a cry before that and since she wasn't too busy she thought she'd comfort him by rocking him. It worked too, as he was sound asleep.
They had put a pair of pants on him as they thought he might be cold in his romper and asked that I put a pair of pants in his bag next time just in case it's needed. All the pants I have for him are too big at the moment and so I have to buy/make him some before he goes in again.
When I arrived home, guess what was waiting for me at the door....
Cynthia had knitted a pair of pants for him and sent it all the way from Boston. Thank you, Cyn! What a timely gift! As you can see, he's not going to grow out of them any time soon. I know they are meant to shrink, but I have hand-washed them twice (once in warm/hot water) and they are still very large. I will have to try machine-washing them to see if they shrink any more.
I thought the pants were so cute that I decided to start a pair of my own.
I dug out some odd balls of a cotton/acrylic blend and started knitting. I am making them to fit Alex now, or at least I hope they will fit. I am about halfway up the second leg, so not much more to go before I finish. Hopefully it will be done by tonight. It can be, if Alex is good and gives me some knitting time, but otherwise I will just have to pop a pair of his too-long-and-too-big-pants into his bag tomorrow.
Like, Cynthia, I am using the pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It seems to be an easy enough pattern. As my yarn will not shrink, I am using the post-shrinkage finished measurements. Let's see if they can be done by tonight...
See the toy beside Alex? That was given by a friend who is now living in UK. She's the one for whom I made
these mittens and a hat last year using alpaca handspun. It's very sweet of her to have thought of us even though she's busy planning her own wedding now. Congratulations, CY!
On the weekend, I tried to 'wean' myself from ALex. I don't think he minds being away from me, but I missed him terribly when I left him with Chris for a few hours last week.
This is where I went with
Lara, her husband Mark and Sharlyn. I had a ball learning to play mahjong. On the way home, I sent Chris a text message to see how Alex was doing since I had not heard from him all afternoon. This is what he wrote back:
"Sound asleep! No feed yet"
He had a pretty good afternoon with Alex. Aside from some thirty or so minutes of crying, he had absolutely no trouble. I came home to find a sleeping baby. Why doesn't he sleep that well for me?! I am glad it went well, though. The less trouble he is, the easier it is to find willing baby-sitters*.
*Though I do think that when it's your own child, it should not be considered baby-sitting!
Labels: Alex, knit from your stash 07, knitted pants, knitting, life
