October 2, 2001 - Tuesday
When I got to my parents house this morning just before 7:00am, Harry had just gotten up and was waiting in the family room. I'm told that he saw the car coming down the driveway and excitedly called out that it was "daddy," but I didn't see that. However, I dare say that I did see that he was happy to see me when I came to the door. It's a tricky business, though, for a toddler to let on such excitement at seeing a parent, at least for Harry as he matures into his own little person and has to play it cool. I've been pretty sure I've witnessed the reaction before in Harry: that he'll be exited to see me, but will quickly redirect that excitement toward either acting like he's very busy or trying to show me everything he's been doing or learning since I saw him last. And this morning he went into that routine again, although not before I clearly saw him running excitedly toward the door. He turned away before he got all the way to me and started talking up a storm about something there at grandpa's house, but at least he didn't struggle too much to get away when I grabbed and hugged him. I'm just going to let myself think he liked it, too.

We had breakfast at grandma and grandpa's house and lingered for more than an hour before heading to daycare. I felt a little odd about bringing him straight to daycare after not seeing him for so long, but I'm sure the time will be longer when Harry's mother actually needs to go to the hospital for Jeremy. So, it's probably good just to get Harry a little more used to the unexpected. And, Harry didn't seen to mind at all being left at daycare. On the other hand, I'm told that he uncharacteristically burst into tears when his playmate's father came 10 minutes earlier than I did. Harry apparently thought it was me coming to get him at first, or was immediately reminded of me when it turned out not to be. Of course, like this morning, Harry played coy when I did get there and acted like he didn't want to leave. We went to the playground for a while on the way home and had the usual good time, but I must say it seemed, maybe it's just in my head, that Harry was a little more intent on having me join him for all his running and climbing.


Comments, opinions?