Think newborns, what is the first image you see? A crib with a mobile. I never thought it matters what kind of mobile I get for the baby. If it was left up to me, I don’t know what I would get.

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If I had one word to describe my experience of choosing a toy for my baby, no matter of the babies’ age, it would be “overwhelming”.

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When I was expecting, I didn’t tell people until I was 6 months pregnant. Why? Don’t even get me started.

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Eric’s second and third days at child care center were just as much of a disaster as the first time. He wouldn’t let go of his teddy or his hat (yep, a strange choice of a comforter, I know). He wouldn’t eat or even drink, not to mention sleep. Actually he would get in bed voluntarily but not to sleep – he would just lie there in a “leave me alone” pose.

Following a suggestion from the child care manager, I was taking him there for 2 days a week, he would spend there 3 – 4 hours each time. 3 weeks have passed and no change, he would scream on top of his lungs when I left him there, run after me, grab my leg, cry hysterically until I disappeared and for a good 10 minutes after. I couldn’t just leave him standing on the floor – one of the girls had to take him from me, pick him up and hold him so that I could run away. I don’t with this experience to my worst enemy.

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Ever since Eric turned 12 months, I started to get this question a lot. Everybody seemed to be interested in what he is eating, from our child’s health nurse to people I accidentally bumped into after not seeing them for months.

And 9 times out of 10 the question “What is he eating?” was followed by “Is he eating what you’re eating?”. I would normally start telling them about how I cook separately for Eric and they would get this worried look on their faces. And then they would start questioning me why Eric doesn’t eat what the rest of the family eats. The message was loud and clear – it is wrong to be feeding the child special meals.

This got me thinking – am I really doing something silly here? Obviously there are many reasons to feed the baby what Rob and I eat.

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Although not mission impossible, I knew potty training wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. As usual, I started by reading couple of books – any parent knows that reading just one is not enough, always seek second opinion :).

They did agree on one thing – that training on a potty chair is easier for a child than training on a grown-up toiled, even with a child seat. The next decision was on a potty – what kind should we get? I asked my mom for advice and she said: “Oh, just get the simplest one” and I though – that makes sense. It should be easy to find and also won’t cost a fortune. Boy, was I wrong…

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Speaking to my friends who don’t have kids yet, I often imagine this picture – there is a one-way door leading to a passage, childless couples are standing before it and those who have babies and kids are on the other side.

There is no chance what so ever for people “before baby” to understand what the heck those freaky parents are talking about before they walk through that door. But then they can’t get back to the way they were thinking before – it’s a one-way door.

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I was prepared. I packed my kid’s favorite soft toy in his little backpack, a change of clothes, a precise description of his routine at home, the likes, the dislikes, how he eats, drinks, sleeps, what he does when he’s frightened and how to calm him down, what games are his favorite and what music helps him relax.

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Have you ever felt like “This is too good to be true”? Normally if things seem that way, they turn out to be that way, too. So now that I’ve found a child care center that sounds like “too good to be true”, does it mean that I’m incredibly lucky or does it mean that I’m clueless and just don’t see things as they really are?

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I postponed this moment for as long as I could, but couldn’t do it forever. The sad truth is that I need to work more than 1.5 hours a day – and that’s all I could manage so far because that’s how long Eric is sleeping throughout the day, and that’s all the quiet time that I get.

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