We did it! We successfully survived our first day of daycare! It went much smoother than I expected and I was surprised and impressed with how chill Owen was throughout the whole experience.
Thanks to the tips and advice from my lovely readers and my knack for being ridiculously overly organized, I had everything pre-packed and laid out the night before. Benjamin was out of town and I knew that I was going to be a little frazzled that morning, so I literally had everything packed and ready to go except for the last-minute items and a post-it note to remind me about the last few things to grab. I didn’t sleep well that night, bur morning went exactly according to plan. I showered, got dressed, put Owen in one of his cutest outfits, put on makeup, fed the dog, fed Owen, fed myself, and packed us up.We bundled up and headed out.
But when I opened the front door, do you know what I saw? SNOW. Lots of it.
Big, white flakes had coated the streets hiding the scary patches of slippery ice still around from our last snow storm. Not exactly great weather to take the stroller out in! I knew from walking to work the last few days that people had not shoveled their sidewalks very well and it would be treacherous with the stroller, so I decided to take the Bjorn. Only problem was that I also had to take my laptop bag for work, a bag of stuff for Owen (extra clothes, diapers, food, bottles, etc. etc.), an extra pair of shoes for me, an umbrella to shield us from the falling snow/slush/ice… I felt like a pack mule. Ah, the joys of living in the city! While I love being able to walk places, I sure would have appreciated a garage and a car commute this morning!
We arrived at daycare and I learned the drop-off procedure and met the teachers. I may have spilled a few tears while I told them things about Owen (how he likes his bottles, things that make him smile, blah blah). Ok, who am I kidding, I also made a little cheat sheet with directions for his nap/feeding routine, songs he loves, telling them how much he likes to sit and stand, etc. I felt kind of silly handing it to them, but they totally appreciated it and later told me they referred to it throughout the day and all of my tips were right on. I’m impressed they even had the time to read it!
I waved goodbye at him while he showed off his mad sitting skills.
Around midday curiosity got the best of me and I called in to see how he was doing. Great! They said. What a happy little guy. He drank his bottle and had an hour nap already. Awesome!
I got to leave work a little early so I was there to pick him up at 4:00pm. He was just finishing a bottle when I arrived (a little later than I had asked for him to be fed, but such is life at daycare I guess!). I peeked around the corner and said his name and he looked over like, “Oh. Hey Mom.” No big deal. No tears, no rush of relief, no clinging to me and acting like he never wanted to come back. It was the perfect reaction. I knew he was totally ok, whether I was there or not. After a second of staring at me he smiled and started flapping his arms and cooing. At least he remembered who I was 🙂
I scooped him up and cuddled him for a minute and he was all smiles. The teachers gave me a rundown of how his day had gone, how much food/milk he had eaten, which toys/songs he liked and how he spent his time. We laughed together about his huge poopsplosion that required a costume change (thank goodness for the extra clothes we sent!) and how cute his lower lip is when he pouts. Apparently the only time he got upset was when other babies cried. He is an empathetic crier. What a sweet little boy!
We trudged home in the snow and he ate and played just like normal. At exactly his normal time he started rubbing his eyes and giving me tired signals and I did bathtime and put him to bed. I am SO impressed with how well he dealt with all of this change and how easily he adapted to the new normal. Frankly I’m proud of myself for doing the same thing!
I think we’re all going to be ok. In fact, I think daycare is going to be an awesome addition to our schedule.
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