first day at daycare {tear}

 

 

The day came so quickly... and we both never knew it would be so hard.

but first let's rewind a little bit...

Last Friday, we took a family walk to his daycare to check it out and ask a few questions before the big "trial day" on Wednesday. It went okay, but our hearts were aching when we left. We couldn't imagine our son being taken care of by someone else. I had so many questions... would they hold him like we do? would they burp him a lot?... because if not he gets cranky. would he cry and cry without anyone picking him up? would he miss us and wonder if we abandoned him? would he know who we were when we picked him up? would they love him?

Needless to say, we both walked out with tears in our eyes (and we didn't even drop him off... we took him home with us) trying to figure out if we could get by without taking him to daycare somehow.

This Wednesday, I had to work with one of my students for a few hours and then Kirby and I wanted to celebrate our 4 year wedding anniversary with lunch together. So we decided to take Kaden to daycare from 8am-1pm for a "trial day" to see how things went.

I'm glad we decided to have a "trial day".  Because of course... that morning, we overslept. So we were both scrambling around the house trying to get ready and make it on time. Kaden helped to make it even more chaotic by pooping and peeing while Kirby changed his diaper... which created a huge mess. So, we definitely had a good practice for what is possibly to come this school year. We finally made it out the door... about 10 minutes later than I had planned.

When we got there, the ladies at the daycare made us feel great! They made us feel comfortable and even told us to call or stop by later to check on him. We asked a million few questions and then handed him over to the ladies. After a few kisses, we sadly walked out the door.  But we didn't go far. We stood at the window for a bit and watched our little 7 week old walk around in someone else's arms. It was tough, but we left knowing we only had a few hours until we could pick him up again.

We called about 11:00 to see how he was doing and we were given a great report! He slept, took his bottle without too much trouble, and hadn't cried very much either. :) Phew! We felt so much better and relaxed, so it was off to lunch. All we talked about was how much our lives had changed, our wedding/marriage, and of course... Kaden. We were so anxious to get our little family of 3 back together again though, so we rushed to the daycare right after lunch.

At 1:00, we stood at the window of his classroom and nervously looked around to find him laying peacefully in a swing, all snuggled up in his blanket from home. I quickly went over to the side of his swing and just stared and cried as I looked at him. I'm not sure what came over me, but picking him up was more emotional than dropping him off.  The ladies reassured us of his good day and we were off to get some quality family time together.

All in all... it was a good experience for the whole family. Not to say Tuesday (our first day back to work) won't be tough... but at least we have an idea now.