Daycare

Stian started daycare on Monday.

On Monday he went from 9:00 am to 11:00 am and I stayed with him the whole time. He was just fine on Monday. He's definitely a sympathetic crier, so he cried some when other kids were crying, but in general he seemed pretty happy.

On Tuesday he went from 9:00 to 12:00 pm. I stayed for about 15 minutes to start with, then I left and walked to the library. I was gone about an hour and 15 minutes. When I got back I ran into both the assistant director and the director and both said they had been in the infant room and he had cried for about 15 minutes after I left, but then he was fine. I went down the hallway to his room and had intended to go in. But when I looked in the window I could see him sitting on the floor laughing and smiling. So I decided not to rock the boat and left for another hour and 15 minutes and went to run an errand. When I got back I found him in the infant room in the glider with the receptionist. He was asleep in her arms as she rocked and sang to him and he was doing those little hiccups kids do after they've been crying. I guess he cried pretty hysterically for about an hour. :( Poor little guy. He woke up shortly after I got there, but he didn't see me, so I sat out of his line of vision and played with one of the other babies. When he woke up he was happy and laughing with the receptionist. Finally he saw me and was happy, we stayed for another little bit and I fed him lunch and then we went home.

I have to say I think it's pretty cute that the director, assistant director and receptionist all come down to the infant room regularly to help out and to cuddle with the babies.

Today he went from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. I was really nervous about leaving him after the way it had gone yesterday. He also had had a weird morning. He usually doesn't wake up until 7:00 when Kris gets him up and doesn't need to eat until 8:00. But Kris had to go into work early this morning, so he wasn't here to get him up. Stian woke up on his own at 6:00 and was not happy. I think he was hungry because he only nursed once in the night last night. So I nursed him, but then he wouldn't nurse again at 8:00 like normal before we left. So I was worried he'd be tired and hungry and generally grumpy. But when we got there Jessica, one of his caregivers, came and took him from my arms while I was getting organized and dropping off diapers and his lunch. Once I was organized he was absorbed in playing with Jessica and not paying any attention to me. So I asked Tara, his other caregiver, what she thought I should do, stay or leave. She told me to go, she thought he'd be okay. I knew I had to be back around 10:30 to nurse him since he hadn't nursed before we left home, so decided to go and come back in a little bit. So I headed off to work.

When I got back at 10:30 and I walked into the front door of the building I could hear lots of crying. Uh-oh. And the infant room is all the way at the end of the hallway, away from the front desk. This was some really upset crying. So I rushed down the hallway sure I would find Stian in the middle of a meltdown. When I got there I found 4 crying babies and Stian sitting on the floor in the middle of it all laughing and playing with toys. :) Yay! They said he cried for about 5 minutes shortly after I left this morning, but otherwise he was happy as a clam. I had brought his lovey along - a blanket with a monkey head attached to it that we call luulah, and he had her in his lap while he was playing with other toys. They said he calmed right down when they gave her to him. So I played with him a little bit and nursed him in the nursing room, played a little bit more and then left again and went back to work.

I came back shortly before 1:00 and found Stian in the glider with Jessica holding on to luulah and being read a book. He looked like he was about to pass out, but he was fighting it hard. They said he had been just fine again while I was gone. They had tried to put him down for a nap, but he wouldn't go to sleep. But he ate up all his lunch and was in a good mood. Yay! So he did great today. I'm so happy and so relieved.

He passed out as soon as I put him in his car seat for the drive home. He woke up when we got here and we played for a little while, but he's now been down for a nap for two hours. He's a sleepy little guy! I hope he learns how to nap there, but he's not a very good sleeper. He's a very light sleeper, and is used to sleeping in a dark quiet room at home. Hopefully he will learn. It would be good for him to get in a morning nap, but it would also be good for him to learn to be able to sleep in different places that aren't so dark and quiet.

So far I like his daycare center. It's a brand new facility and the opening was on Monday. This made for an interesting day as none of the children were comfortable with the people or the facility. So there was lots of crying. I helped out quite a bit that first day. Since Stian was generally happy I spent a fair amount of time jollying other babies who were less happy. The facility itself is great. The rooms for all the age groups seem really great and they have awesome outdoor facilities as well. Even the infants have a play area all to themselves.

I also really like his care providers. Stian seems to like both of them already. So let's just hope it continues to go well!