Little Miss Independent

Yesterday was Maggie's first day of nursery. Jonathan walked in, dropped her off, and she went straight to playing. No crying, no fussing, and no idea that Daddy was out the door. I have to admit it was kind of strange to peek through the window a few times and see my baby in nursery.

At the beginning of our primary lesson one of the kids asked me if I had any kids. I told him we had one. Then one of the girls said, "And she's sooooooooo cute!" Then another little girl piped up and said, "And sooooooooo loud! You always sit behind us in sacrament meeting and she's always noisy." I had to laugh to myself because I wouldn't consider Maggie loud...except when she makes her noise that we refer to as the seagull squawk. But compared to a lot of other kids in sacrament meeting, I'd place her on the quiet end of the spectrum. Kids are funny.

Halfway through the lesson the nursery leader brought Maggie to me because she had a dirty diaper. Luckily my team teacher was teaching so I slipped out to take care of Maggie. On the way back to class I slipped into the library to give my friend Gina a few Relief Society announcements. We started talking and I set Maggie down. Honestly we didn't talk very long and Maggie was right by my side...or so I thought. I figured she'd be in the hall, not daring to venture too far from me. But there was no sight of her in the hall. Our church is kind of a maze, so I started to get slightly panicked that it could take me the rest of church to find her if she kept slipping into rooms after I had checked in them. I checked by the nursery since I told her it was time to go back. She wasn't there. She loves to run around the gym, so I figured that must be where she was. Nope, not there either. I checked in the empty chapel, doing a quick scan through the pews. No Maggie. (It's okay if you cast your judgement now--I was feeling like a bad mom. At least it was at church where I didn't need to be concerned about crazy people or kidnappers, just how long it was going to take to find her.) I walked by the Relief Society room where there was another mom holding her baby. I asked her if she had seen a little girl run by. She told me no. So I went back to the other end of the church to check again. I peeked in all of the classrooms that were empty. Walked by the library again and shrugged my shoulders to Gina, who knew Maggie had made an escape. Gina came out in the hall to help look. Then a second later she said, "She's down here." The other mom holding her baby had seen her popping her head up and down by the pulpit and motioned us down. I walked into the chapel and sure enough, Maggie was up on the stand peeking over the wood and then ducking. As soon as she saw me coming she took off running. Sometimes she's a little too independent!

When I brought her back to nursery I could tell she was fussing a little after I shut the door. But it was probably only because I took her freedom away, not because she missed me.