So many new things!

It's been a very busy few weeks for Natalie. As you saw from the last blog entry, she was just starting to take some wobbly steps. Now as you'll see in the video below, she's a full-fledged walker! She still falls on her butt sometimes, but it is truly amazing how quickly she went from taking tentative steps to where she is now. When we hold her, she's clamoring to get down and walk around. Her walking was so good that her preschool agreed to take her early for their summer camp program(she was supposed to start at the end of August, but thankfully a slot opened up). So this past Monday we packed up Natalie's lunch box, diapers and a few changes of clothes and toted her off to school. I had all these ideas in my head about documenting each moment with the camera, filming her walking up the sidewalk and going into the building, but it was pouring down rain so Johnathan went ahead with her and I came in a few minutes later with her stuff. She was a little leery at first, but by the time I got into her classroom (The Rainbow Room), she was nestled in the lap of one of her teachers, listening to a story. By the time we left a few minutes later, she seemed fine and happy to explore the toys and games. We were patting ourselves on the back, thinking what a well-adjusted baby we had. I called the school around 11 a.m. She was doing great! Hooray! Well, later in the day I got a call. Natalie had been crying for the past hour and a half. Should I come get her? I asked. They said yes. So I went to her school and found her sitting on the mat, teary-eyed but calmed down. She was very happy to see me. The teachers assured me it's normal for children to take some time to adjust to their new situation. She's around new people, in a new environment, and trying to adapt to a new schedule. It's gotten better over the past few days, but she's still not napping well, which will probably be the biggest obstacle to get over. But this is to be expected, and I'm confident she'll get acclimated soon. It's really a great school and I'm so happy that she's going there. I know she's going to learn so much more than she would if she was at home with me. We're really glad that she was able to start now and I know that's going to make it a lot easier when the school year begins in August. She's gonna be a pro!