Stranger Danger? Not Really.

Yesterday was a real test of Eamon's ability to deal with strangers and change his routine. My mom threw her back out last week, so yesterday while I went to training for summer school, my friend Sally (who works with me) came over to babysit him. Sally has lots of experience with kids from working at the Y, so even though Eamon apparently cried for the first hour she was there, it didn't really faze her.

Eventually, she got him to take a nap. Afterwards, he woke up with a whole new attitude, and was smiley and happy for the rest of the morning. They played and laughed, and she took pictures and sent them to my phone. It has to be one of the best things about advances in technology!

When I got home, however, there was no rest for the poor boy. I scooped him up and hauled him to Lee Hall Elementary for a meeting. That's one nice thing about having a principal with kids--when I told her that I only had daycare through the morning, she said it wasn't a problem for me to bring him, as long as she got to hold him.

So Eamon went to his first meeting. His role was mainly to throw things on the floor, which people don't do nearly enough in meetings today. The meeting lasted about an hour and he was actually really good. I had brought plenty of toys and a bottle, and he didn't start getting fussy until the end--but he was really ready for a nap at that point.

He also let my principal, Amanda, hold him. No one, however, enthralled him more than our current assistant principal, Barbara. He thought she was the bee's knees. She picked him up and he smiled and smiled and smiled. In fact, he beamed. Light rays of joy came shooting out of his face. He gently stroked her hair over and over and just seemed to marvel. She put him back down on my lap, but he kept staring at her. She tickled his leg, about an inch above the knee right in the little crease, and he laughed. She did it again, and more laughter--belly laughs.

Well, it was eye-opening for me. First of all, he does get over his stranger anxiety as long as 1) there aren't too many people, and 2) you let him get used to someone first. He has to sit on mommy's lap for about 15-20 minutes, checking out the other person, before he'll let someone else hold him without incident.

Not only that, but I learned that Eamon IS ticklish! Up until this point, I would tickle him and he would smile politely but that was about it. I tried the tummy, under the arms, under the chin, and sometimes he would laugh a little, but more because I was making silly faces than because of outright ticklishness.

Ergo, I give you: Tickle Me Eamon