The Nursery

I left Adrianna in a church nursery yesterday for the second time in her life. It was so hard for me to hand her over to strangers, even though they are caring moms too.

I still remember how hard it was the first time too. Even though I knew the lady who would be watching Adrianna, it is so hard leaving her with people who aren’t family! And just as I was getting ready to leave the nursery to go back up to the church service, the other little baby in there started just coughing up a storm. It was a gross, phlemy cough. I almost scooped Adrianna right back up and skedaddled out of there. But I didn’t. I gathered up my nerve and left her there even though my whole mommy mind was telling me to take her back up with me. She wasn’t fussy. The reason I had brought her to the nursery was because she was being talkative. As cute as that is, it can be pretty loud during a sermon.

I didn’t get a thing out of the service that day. My ears and pretty much my whole being was straining to listen for a cry from Adrianna, even though the nursery was downstairs from the sanctuary.

When I went to pick her up, Patty informed me that Adrianna had done just fine. No crying or fussing at all. I also later learned that the other baby was teething and that was the main cause for his gross phlemy sound. Adrianna didn’t get sick from this encounter, for which I was very thankful.

As I mentioned, I was nervous about handing Adrianna over once again. This time to strangers. But she was in a good, talkative mood so I couldn’t keep her in the service with me without being disruptive. There were several other young toddlers and babies already in the nursery when I brought Adrianna down. And there were 3 other young moms watching them. So I handed her over. She didn’t cry when I left. I think the leaving was much harder for me than it was for her.

Once again, it was hard for me to pay attention during the service. I did better this time; even though part of my mind was thinking about Adrianna the whole time and wondering how she was doing. Now that Adrianna is taking an interest in other babies, I was also wondering what she was thinking and if she was enjoying seeing all the other kids too.

When the service was over, I bolted out of there. I almost ran some little old ladies over in my attempt to get downstairs to the nursery as fast as possible. When I got down there, I peaked into a window to see if I could see Adrianna without her seeing me. She was sitting on the floor being a little angel. The nursery worker informed me that she did just fine. Another little kid have even grabbed her face (in their exuberance to play with the baby I am sure) and Adrianna handled it just fine and didn’t even fuss.

After the service, Lynette and I met up with Melissa. Melissa was to run the nursery for an after-service meal, so we hung out in there with her and her daughter, Kendra. Kendra is about a year old and pretty close to the same size as Adrianna who just turned 7 months old yesterday. I was able to watch the two little girls play together, which was quite fun for me. Adrianna was playing with a toy and Kendra, being more mobile and agile since she is older, took it away. Adrianna really isn’t to the point where she cares about that yet, so she took it in stride. Melissa made Kendra give it back. Kendra pouted, but only for a moment and then she was distracted by another toy.

Kendra also had a pacifier which she was happily sucking on. I happened to look away for a moment when I then heard some quiet fussing. I turned around and the pacifier was no longer in Kendra’s mouth. Adrianna was holding it and twisting her wrist around looking at it like she does with her toys all the time. I can only assume that Adrianna pulled it out of Kendra’s mouth. hehe. I gave it back to Kendra and all was fine.