How we get out of the house

When its time for me to go to work, I get ready at 2:30pm and Charles comes to pick me up at around 3pm. This is also when Nana comes up to take care of John. John is coming to understand what this getting ready means: mama's leaving him. He starts to get anxious and act up, gets clingy. When daddy comes up the driveway he hears the car and goes to the door. He loves visiting with daddy but hates letting daddy go, and hates that daddy takes mama away.

How it usually goes lately is first daddy says goodbye and hands baby to mama then goes out the door. I used to just hand him to Nana, and let her hold him while he kicked and screamed when I said "byebye." One day, as I was leaving, I picked up a plastic toy orange that hinges open to reveal plastic orange slices. He loves opening and closing this orange and shaking it to hear the pieces rattling. He was so interested, he didn't cry when I left.

So now I give him this little electronic ghost keychain. It has a button on the back that turns on its powerful blacklight eyes, and plays a loud "ooooooeeeeeeeooooo" ghostie sound. He loves trying to turn the button on (he loves pushing buttons and getting an effect, he will do this endlessly until you are driven insane). He will sit in Nana's lap and not cry when I go to work.

that's how we get out of the house.