New Job, New Nanny

Well, not a new job yet, but soon. My supervisor at work accepted a new academic position, which means he has a lot less time for running our lecture series. Luckily, he feels pretty confident in my abilities, so I'll be taking on some more responsibility -- as he likes to say, I'll "curate" the next season -- more hours, and more paycheck. We had arranged for a nanny to come in to watch Little a couple of days a week before we went to Los Angeles (oh yeah, should probably blog about that sometime), and her arrival couldn't have come at a more perfect time! I'm pretty busy at work "curating," J is finding his way in the new company, and well, Little has kind of been a jerk lately. Mostly it's teething, but also he's figuring out that he has control over things (like what goes in his mouth) and likes to exert that control when we all seem to be tired, hungry, or both.

He's really developing quite a personality, which is awesome and tiresome. For those of you who have been around Mr. M for an afternoon, you know what I'm talking about. He's active and fun and is strong as an ox. Walking is his new favorite activity and he's getting quite good at it. He's still taking some spills (cue bruise on forehead), but for the most part doesn't seem to mind. His personality really came out this past week as I had quite a bit more work to accomplish during the day. I was ignoring him more than usual and he was pretty pissed about it. I realized that working from home for me is not going to be possible for extended periods of time. Little is very good at entertaining himself, but not when I'm in the room. The minute my laptop opens, he's clawing at my pants, shirt, and boobs (which is highly annoying) and has even started biting to get my attention. Of course, I let him know that this isn't allowed, but really, it's my problem not his. When I'm here, I need to be present (not in front of my computer). 

As the summer moves along and I start to get a better idea of my new work schedule, we'll probably up the number of nanny hours a bit. On the one hand it's hard (especially knowing that a large part of my paycheck goes to pay for childcare), but on the days that Lindsay comes in, I'm happier, Little is happier, and as a result, J is happier too. I actually make dinner, we have conversation, and I don't count the minutes until Little goes to bed (okay maybe sometimes). And then he gives me his "night night" face and waves bye bye. How can stay angry at that?