Old and new beginnings

And so it came to pass: today, Vanessa started back at work and Jamie started nursery.

Mum probably had the less taxing day of the two. Her e-mail account hadn't been properly reactivated since she went off on maternity leave twelve months ago, meaning she didn't do anything particularly meaningful until around 4.30pm. So, nothing new there then.

As for Jamie, well, we're not really sure if truth be told. The picture below was taken just before we pushed him up the road after eight this morning and, as you can see, he was in the best of form.

But when I went back to collect him more than nine hours later, his demeanour was rather less animated. I think he was tired, more than anything else. The two girls looking after him reported that he had only slept for only around 40 minutes all day, less than a third of his normal downtime in recent weeks.

Perhaps he was scared to miss something, perhaps he was a bit on the disconcerted side with lots of strange faces and no familiar ones around him. It was almost certainly a bit of both.

He apparently ate well (please don't faint) although, at lunchtime, insisted on having his choc ice before his chicken korma and rice (in common with some of his "classmates," the nice ladies assured me). He also had a large cheese sandwich for tea. And Weetabix for breakfast. Oh, and lots of fruit. And other snacks throughout he day. And plenty of full fat milk. So, well, no, he's...errm...not off his food - which is good.

However, he steadfastly refused to climb into the paddling pool for a cooling mid-afternoon dip with the rest of the baby class (which, from what I could see, consisted of a sweet and smiley little girl with magnificent eyebrows, an enigmatic but incredibly cute mini-chap who looked like ex-Beautiful South lead singer Paul Heaton and another equally endearing little boy who appeared to have a snowball perched on his head).

But I was certainly very impressed by everyone and everything I saw today and hopefully tomorrow Jamie will throw himself in at the deep end. I'd be surprised if he doesn't.