One on One

Since moving to Croatia, Reese and I have probably endured the biggest changes in routine.  She was at daycare everyday with lots of 3 year old friends (including "boyfriend" Will) and favorite teacher Ms. Julia.  I was at work everyday, working on a big project with other grown-ups.  :-)  And now, we are together all.the.time.  Don't get me wrong, I love my Reesey Piecey to death, but she is 3.  And still poops her pants.  And says "No" to at least half of everything I say.  And throws ridiculous tantrums from time to time (although these actually are pretty few and far between).  Despite these little wrenches...I have really enjoyed spending my days with her.  We have been practicing writing letters, coloring, building legos, walking to the park where nobody else speaks English, baking, playing with a ball in the yard.  One week when Scot was in Germany, we even had the car every day to drive around in.  We shopped, we took the tram downtown, we ate at a cafe, fun stuff!  One other thing, I knew Reese was a big eater, but didn't realize how big of an eater she really was during the day.  Goodness gracious!  She eats like a teenage boy.  One evening, she announced "All this 'venture makes me hungry."  No joke.

But...then I had to go "back to work" on October 22nd.  The great thing is that I'm only working 20 hours a week.  The not so great thing is that I don't have reliable daycare for Reese.  So, the past two weeks I've worked during her naps and while she has watched some TV.  I worked a few evenings after bedtime to get my hours in.  I suddenly felt very stretched and wasn't getting really any time to myself anymore.

So, I looked at an English speaking kindergarten, which I really like.  And I'm checking out another option tomorrow.  Still, we only have one car and getting her there every day would prove to be a challenge.  There are some days I could take Scot to work pretty easily (his office is about 3 miles away), but once or twice a week he is at a different building which is about a 40-50 minute drive. So, in the meantime I have hired a babysitter, who starts tomorrow and will be here 3 mornings this week.  She actually babysat for the family who lived in this house before us (that mom worked remotely for Under Armour).  I'm excited for Reese to have a distraction while I'm working and to recoup some time for myself later in the day.  Hopefully, this is short term and we can get Reese in school soon - she really is such a social creature, I think it will do her so much good to have some young friends to play with again!