Daycare Update

Well, it's definitely been a transition, but I think we're slowly getting used to our new schedule (knock on wood). The second day of daycare was awful. As soon as I handed Ronan over to one of the women, he began to scream and cry and reach for me. After a minute, they gave him back to me so I could say good-bye and he immediately stopped crying. But when I turned him over again, the screams started up. I left the room and went to go pay for the week and I could still hear him crying. Eventually, it began to lessen, but I felt absolutely horrible when I left.

Of course, that was also the day where our meeting ran late, I hit just about every red light on my way back to the center, and there was a huge accident that meant I had to follow a stream of cars on a detour through back roads, but eventually I got there. As I was coming in, the woman who had taken Ronan when we got there was outside with some of the older kids and she told me how cute Ronan is, which made me feel a bit better. I know that he's usually a happy boy and can be so much fun, but I worried that all the daycare would see is this screaming, crying, cranky child. When I went in, Ronan was sitting in one of the chairs getting ready to try to eat again. He was fussy, but not crying. The women in there told me that he'd had another rough day, refusing to take either a bottle or sippy cup, but he had at least eaten some applesauce and they let him play with the spoon for awhile, since that seemed to make him happy. I have to confess I was getting really worried and upset at that point. Monday was going to be a much longer day and I didn't know how either of us could handle it if he was just going to be miserable the whole time. I felt like a terrible mother for leaving my child screaming with a bunch of strangers.

However, Monday started off fairly well. He didn't scream when the teacher took him or as I left. Then, when I go back, he was asleep and the women told me that not only had eaten baby food, but he'd also polished off all the milk I had brought and he'd been in a pretty good mood for most of the day, took a long nap, etc. I kind of hated having to wake him up. Likewise, he did fairly well for Tom's cousin who came to babysit him while I had my night class. He didn't eat again and I guess he fought falling asleep for awhile, but he was passed out in her arms when I got home, so that was good. And then he slept pretty well last night, only waking up once from hunger. So it seems like he's adjusting, which makes me very happy.

This is especially true since I am really enjoying being back at school. It's great to see my friends again and to be able to talk with people about non-baby related subjects, joke around, etc. In some ways, it feels like I've never left. It's a good group of people to be around, I love history, and it's kind of nice to be going back to school and starting a new program but not having to feel like the new kid. I've also been working on getting some of my books read ahead of time, since I never really know when I'll be able to read, so that's helped with my stress level as well. Anyway, hopefully things will continue to go well. I have another night class tonight and Tom works, so his youngest brother and his fiancee are coming over to sit - hopefully Ronan will continue to adjust and maybe even eat tonight. :)