Just another day in paradise: Daycare

No, we have not decided to put Ethan in daycare (besides the fact that we couldn't afford it) my mom is still very happy with watching him and we are very grateful not to have to bring him to a stranger for 5+ hours a day. But, we did take Ethan to the church daycare/Sunday school for the first time last Sunday. After a year and a half we finally ran out of excuses, gathered all our courage, pushed all anxieties aside and brought him to church. We were convinced he would cry/scream/push other kids to the point that we would have to get him about 5 minutes into the service, but we were ready.
I got all of his belongings tagged with his name (this only consisted of a small bag, 2 diapers and a cup, a relief compared to what we usually lug around). We made a hard decision to leave his one comfort item, "Zaza" in the car rather than risk loosing it. When we first walked into "Noah's Ark," the name of the daycare building, Ethan was a bit nervous. He tried his infamous climb onto Mama's back. Once he was checked in we let him down to run to his classroom and his nervousness faded. I walked with him into his classroom and he went straight to the toys which gave me a perfect opportunity to sneak out.
When you bring a child to the child care facility they are given a name tag, the parents are given a matching tag, both with a number on it. If the volunteers need you to pick up your child during the service, the number is displayed on screens in the different worship centers. It's a great way to communicate with the parents while not being too disruptive to the service.
After all the worry, not a single number was displayed on the screen. Ethan survived his first experience in Sunday school! When the service was over we went (quickly) to go get him. When we got to his classroom door, he was standing at a little table with 4 or 5 other kids watching the teacher pull out animals and place them on the table, his back was to us and his little name tag was pinned to the hood of his shirt. I wish I had taken a picture because it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. I can't even describe how good it felt to see him interacting with other kids his age without mom and dad to help him. The teachers said he did very well, a little cranky toward the end (we were cutting close to nap time) and he wouldn't let them change his diaper (he wouldn't let me change his diaper if I didn't make him). He fell asleep on the ride home.
No pictures from church but here's some cute ones from this and last week:

Trying to blow bubbles, mostly just getting it in his mouth