Nursery: Day 2

Today I spent 30 minutes at daycare with James, and then... left!  I walked down the street without a baby in my arms, feeling oddly... empty.  And free.  And relaxed.  I thought I would feel slightly guilty at leaving him, Instead, I felt... free!  I felt reassured that the nursery was, if not the most amazing place in the world, at least a safe place where James will be well fed and safely looked after.   There may be scuffs on the walls, and some of the toys may be a little worn, but there is usually a 2:1 baby to carer ratio, which means James will never be ignored for long.  I like the idea of little James as an independent entity, making his own way in the world. 

When I returned after two hours of errands to pick James up, he was just starting his lunch:  macaroni cheese and sweetcorn. One thing is certain:  James will not be ignored when he wants something.  If the daycare helper took too long between bites, James would begin a series of gutteral groans that were impossible to ignore.  I was proud of him for making his demands known. 

Maybe a slightly spoiled baby is a more resilient baby?   I never thought of James as "spoiled" before, but he has had a lot of undivided attention in his short life.  No wonder his little mind is used to it.  

Tomorrow: Day 3 of settling in.  And then, James is on his own!  

First day of day care

I may have been very slack so far in recording James' achievements in his baby book, but next Wednesday will be a landmark:  his very first full day at the nursery.  I can hardly imagine what it will be like to leave him in the little building across the street, and walk away for 7 hours.

Today was the first of a three day gradual settling in program.  It was relatively mild - 90 minutes, with me in attendance the full time.  Even so, we had a minor catastrophe only 10 minutes into his visit.  I was admiring the messy artwork created by some youngster, and while I was looking away, sweet little Celeste managed to whack James on the head with a plastic truck.  The attendant hurriedly put a cold compress on the bump.  The rest of the stay passed without incident, aside from James attempting to eat the paint off his paintbrush.  But clearly, we need to toughen our little boy up!