Melancholy October

Well, that was my last week of maternity leave. On Monday I’ll be heading back to work, and Gabe will be off to daycare. I imagine the first week will be rough for both of us. But my coworkers are eager to have me back, and the other babies at the Kinder Care seemed happy to be there, so I suspect we’ll settle into comfortable new routines.

The Thursday before last, Gabe received his first immunizations. He was quite the little trooper at the office visit, bouncing right back to a good mood. Chris was more traumatized than Gabe was. But then over the weekend Gabe was prone to irritability and sudden outbursts. Added to that, Nik and Rebecca were here for a visit, so it was a busy, fun-but-stressful weekend. We chased that with a dry run to the daycare, and Gabe’s first visit to our workplace; and then I had my own doctor’s appointment. I’m just now realizing that it took me a couple of days to recover from all of that.

October is always a tough month for me, what with the plants going dormant and the days shortening; but as I told my doctor, just getting out of the house helps me shake the blues. So Gabe and I went straight from the doctor to lunch (at an old-fashioned soda fountain in an old-fashioned drug-store) to Babies R Us. We chalked up two diaper changes and feedings while out, which was a liberating first.

Now that dangling toys are of interest to Gabe, Babies R Us is a more tantalizing place for me. I resisted the temptation to buy extra toys, and bought only the bouncy chair I was after. It still intimidates Gabe a bit, but I suspect in a couple of weeks it will be his new favorite thing.

As of last week Gabe weighed in at thirteen pounds and eight ounces. And my typing is keeping him awake, so I had better get going now.