The Ups and Downs of Daycare

We are back in the FULL swing of things now! I am back at work now and Sam is getting his first daycare experience. Last year, we were so lucky to have my mom around to watch Sam when I went back to work. We are so indebted and grateful for her love and the sacrifices she and Dad made in offering to care for Sam during his first year. We discussed ahead of time, however, that mom was only going to be able to do this for us for Sam's first year. Mom thought it might get a little more difficult to keep up with Sam once he started moving around--she was right :) He is a mover! Thank you so much Mom and Dad.

He has been enrolled in daycare for about 5 weeks now, and in that amount of time Sam has acquired more bugs than I could imagine! He's had pink eye, a cold, an ear infection, a nasty stomach bug, and even a bite on the arm! Every week-except for one- there has been some kind of new illness. Poor thing. I keep telling myself and hoping that he will grow stronger and have a better immune system once he gets through his first year at daycare.

On to the upside of day care...

We went from the first few weeks when Sam cried each and every morning when I dropped him off--to now when (most of the time if he's not sick) he actually seems happy to see his teacher. He actually reaches out to her in the morning when we arrive now! This makes me feel SOOOOO much better about leaving him and going on to work.

They are helping Sam transition into eating table food. When I learned that Sam would be sitting in room full of 16 one-year-olds at lunch with the expectation that he FEED HIMSELF, I was shocked. I didn't even know that this was normal. I was still feeding Sam baby food when he started daycare. Note there were actually two issues: Sam still ate pureed baby food and he didn't feed himself. It wasn't until after week four, that Sam started eating the regular table food that all the other kids ate. Even then, they sometimes have to sprinkle a little of his favorite baby rice on top to coerce him to eat it. They still have to feed him if it requires a spoon, but he does feed himself if the food pieces are big enough to pick up with his hands. We have seen so much progress in this department!

I love that he has a structured day. His teachers post their lesson plans each week and there is usually a theme, such as counting, apples, beaches, back to school, etc. There are 4 teachers and 16 children in the room when everyone is there. I think the 4th teacher rotates depending on the numbers in each classroom. His teachers say that he is now coming out of his shell and clapping and dancing during circle time and playing with all the toys (he still loves the cars and trucks). He freely explores the classroom--albeit he is still on his hands and knees! I really thought he would be walking by now, but he is still thoroughly content with crawling and has no interest in walking. They go outside everyday unless the weather is bad and he loves to play on the playground. Their playground has so many more options for children his age than the playground near our home. They also do an arts and craft everyday. I love that I can hang his beautiful paintings on the fridge already!



I like to call it school-not daycare :) I feel that it is preparing him for "big boy school" more than I could do by myself. As much as I would love to stay home with him everyday and as much as I miss him while I'm at work, I do think he is in good hands and he is getting opportunities to explore and socialize that I wouldn't be able to provide otherwise. We are adjusting well (I think) and it works for our family for the time being. :)