"Lincoln Takes Manhattan!"

(Brian here)

Brian thinks he looks like a muppet
here...Shelley disagrees :)

 To split hairs, Lincoln is not taking Manhattan. He doesn’t even know what a Muppet is yet or the joys of singing rubber ducky during bath time and learning numbers with The Count. He’s doesn’t even channel Oscar the Grouch when he has a wet diaper! And Lincoln is not heading to the East Coast or anywhere close to New York at least not quite yet. But, as Shelley has mentioned in a previous blog post or two, Lincoln has been on a whirlwind tour of the Midwest and the US. He’s “seen” Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, and of course Illinois - along with the Mississippi, Illinois, and Ohio rivers.

 The milestone I am writing about is that Lincoln will be starting day care on Monday. And while we are super excited about the in-home day care we have lined up and the hundreds of wonderful things we’ve heard about Norma, it will be a trying week for all of us. With all of emotions that go along with that first “drop off” experience aside (for now), he took his first steps into Norma’s today with Shelley so she could drop off supplies and introduce Lincoln to Norma and her two assistants. In true Lincoln Alan Brown fashion (speaking for any of those who have met him in person) he channeled my favorite Muppet, Guy Smiley! The funny thing about Guy Smiley is that my good friends (Dennis, Maggie, Rebecca, and Brandi, at Quarasan, my former employer) nicknamed me Guy Smiley because, well… I’m smiley! Needless to say, Lincoln made a wonderful first impression on Norma and her assistants and was alert, smiley, and snuggly. He was very interested in hearing and seeing the six other children at Norma’s, looking at his new surroundings, and meeting his new friends – who, by the way, were very interested in seeing and meeting the “newbie”!

Hearing Shelley’s take on the morning events melted my heart a little bit. Again with the obvious emotions of leaving our son at day care aside, it was sad hearing about his first experience at Norma’s. I wanted to be there to see his reaction to hearing the other children, see him look at new toys, and just watch him be the wonderful baby that he has been for the past 15 weeks. Don’t get me wrong, it made me happy and proud that he was alert, smiley, and interested in his new surroundings, as it always does. It means that Shelley and I (mostly Shelley) have done a great job being attentive to his needs and wants and giving him the trust in us that babies need. But it made me a little sad that I missed this morning’s milestone. Hopefully knowing that we’re doing a good job raising someone who is happy, smiley, well-rested, and loves life will help over the next few weeks as we start to miss more milestones (and smiles) at Ms. Norma's house.

See the resemblance?!