A BIG day ... for all of us!

Today was a big day for our family. Eliot went to nursery at church for the first time. And I KNOW that it was harder on Grant and me than on Eliot. The whole morning I was nervously anticipating the big moment when we would take him and drop him off. Grant and I even walked through our "game plan" of who was going to stay with him, or should we just leave him, etc. And then it was no biggie. Grant stayed for the first little bit with Eliot, who was only slightly clingy at first, but even as I spied through the glass windows in the doors after leaving my boys, Eliot was barely aware Grant was in the room and was happily playing with the new treasure trove of toys he had just landed upon. I'm sure if he could talk, he would chew us out for holding out on him for so long. I can hear it now, "You mean to tell me that this room has been here all this time, and you've been trying to keep me entertained with the contents of your dumb diaper bag?!"

When Grant left Eliot, Grant said it was a piece of cake. For Eliot anyway. Grant reports feeling a decent amount of sadness after leaving our little year-and-a-half year-old (and WHO let him get that old, by the way?!) on "the other side of the door." It must have been hard on Grant, because other men from his priesthood group came up to Eliot after church and told him that his daddy had missed him today.

The funniest moment of it all, for me at least, was when I spied in on Eliot again on my way from Sunday School to Relief Society. It was snack time, and as I looked up and down the table for Eliot, he was nowhere to be found. Then I saw a couple of the nursery workers giggling a little bit and walking to the other side of the room -- where Eliot was literally climbing inside one of the play kitchens. As a middle child of six girls, I totally get Eliot's thinking on this one -- smart little bugger had it all figured out: "While they're all over their eating, I can play with whatever toys I want!" Smart kid. Though I'm sure it didn't take too much convincing to get Eliot to go get a snack. When the leaders asked me about any food allergies, I told them that yes, he is allergic to peanuts, but that their biggest concern would probably keeping Eliot from stealing other kids' food. He's kind of a big eater, what can I say.

So round one of nursery -- we'll call it a success. Phew. Maybe it will get easier on the parents as time goes on? As for Eliot, I have a feeling he's going to be one of those kids that bolts for the door as soon as sacrament meeting's over.