Separation

I left my baby boy in the care of another for the first time today. My birthday present back in July was tickets for the hottest show in town — the two week run of Wicked at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. When Mike gave me the tickets, I was worried that the baby would only be about six weeks old when the time came for the show, but it was a little easier then to tell myself it would be OK, and besides, plenty of people even go back to work at six weeks, so I can manage a few hours for a matinee.

As the big date approached, I was pretty apprehensive. He was a week late in coming, and so isn’t even quite six weeks old yet. I wasn’t worried about the people we had watching him — Jill and Jason have two young ones of their own, and are going to be his godparents, to boot, so no problem there! — but I was still worried about leaving such a little baby, even for a few hours.

I managed. As a result of this little time away, Nate had two firsts in one — he also had his very first bottle. I couldn’t bring myself to give him a bottle before today, so Jill bravely volunteered to be the pioneer. Thankfully, he took the bottle no problem, and another, and another! About 7 ounces of expressed milk in all, in 2-and-a-little-more-ounce portions. Good thing we were only gone 4 hours!

Nate and mommy both survivied their first separation without too much trauma, Mommy managed to enjoy the show, and Nate handled his bottles wonderfully. All in all, a successful day. Still, whatever we do for Valentine’s Day will be children-in-tow. I just can’t do it twice in one month; not yet!

(Pix to come)