Our New Normal

Since the two older girls got their own post about their first day of school, here is my First Day Back to the Office/Ruby's First Official Day at Home While I'm at the Office photo (or two).

I spent my morning in meetings (in Spanish) for three straight hours. It was a great welcome back to Adult Time. It made me realize one benefit of working in the office instead of at home is I will have more opportunities to use Spanish. I'm looking forward to using my Spanish as much as possible. I was also pleased to realize that I could track the entire conversation in Spanish, though my attempts to contribute at times were a little more work.

Admittedly, it was hard to be at work knowing Ruby is in the middle of some transitions. She has kind of started to drop her morning nap, so her days are inconsistent. She is still teething, and figuring out her independence, and now will do this three mornings a week without me. It's hard to know she will be transitioning, without knowing how to explain some of our cultural preferences to our houseworker. Culturally it is common to carry babies around (versus letting them play on the ground), give them sweet things to eat, and give in to crying and whining very quickly. Those go against some of our own ideas of how to raise up babies. Fortunately, this is a few mornings a week, and she will be getting lots of Spanish at home. At some point this year we might transition her to daycare, but we will take it one week at a time.

In the meantime, we are thankful we have an employed woman who can take care of Ruby at home while I'm at work. The girls are loving their new classes and teachers, and we are diving into a new year. Our New Normal of 2016 has begun.