Growing up and making a change

I've been very blessed as a fulltime working mommy to have an employer that is flexible and allows me to telecommute two days/week. When Padraic was a baby, I initially just did one day at home per week, but when he was 14 months we had to find a new day-care center that could handle his suspected asthma, and that center didn't have a 4-day rate. And their 5-day rate was out of our reach at the time (ha, now we pay twice that, but that's another story). So I negotiated permission to work at home on Mondays and Fridays.

When Henry was born, I knew I couldn't watch both boys those two days and get anything useful done so we decided to make Padraic's day-care schedule full time. That allowed Padraic to get more education time into his week while I enjoyed snuggle time w/ Baby Henry.

But now Baby Henry is almost-toddler Henry, and to be blunt, he's making me nuts. He is, like his mother, subject to wild mood swings. One minute he's a charming, smiling child, and the next minute he's shrieking as if someone just drove a hot poker up his ass. He's also, unlike his mother, an incredibly picky eater. The only foods he agrees to eat on a consistent basis are bananas and chicken nuggets. Awesome diet, huh? Everything else has about a 97.87463% change of ending up tossed onto the floor. (The dogs love this.) Even foods that make it into his mouth are subject to being removed and flung onto the high chair tray or aforementioned floor. Gross, dude. To counteract his horrible eating habits, which do not go into effect at day care, just at home, I've been sneaking veggies into him via V8 Fusion juice, but he's a sipper, not a guzzler, and it takes most of the day to get him through one cup of the stuff. And yes, he's on a multivitamin.

Add together these traits and the fact that he's almost walking (at just a few days shy of 16mos he is seriously holding out on us just to piss us off, I know it) in that take-your-eyes-off-me-for-a-nanosecond-and-I'll-have-bashed-my-brains-out-on-something mode, and I just can't take it anymore. My baby needs to go to school full time so I can get my work done while knowing he is safe and happy. And I'd like to be happy, too, frankly.

After much soul-searching I have decided to part with my bambino on Mondays and Fridays and instead allow his big brother to stay home with me. Padraic will love it. The kid has never gotten over his separation anxiety at dropoff time, and he is morose almost every morning because of it. Meanwhile, Henry sees the front of the day-care center when we pull into the parking lot in the mornings, and he giggles and kicks his feet with excitement. (It doesn't hurt that the first thing they do there every day is serve him breakfast. He loves food as long as its not served by me.)

Will this change cost me more? You betcha. Will it possibly keep me from throwing my frazzled self into traffic? More than likely. Will it make Padraic happier than Christmas does? Also likely. And since he is easier to take out in public and old enough to enjoy things like movies and play places, I envision some afternoon outings in our future. Which will be nice since in less than two years he'll start kindergarten, and then it's 5 days/week no matter what we'd rather do.

I guess we're all growing up a bit, and it's time for a change. Wish us luck.