Yesterday (Monday 5/17) was Dorothy's first full day of day care. She's going 3 days per week to the Rama Kidstop. We've been very impressed with Rama ever since we first went to see it back in late March, and decided that Dorothy would go there. 3 days per week in daycare will give me time to work uninterrupted from home. The other 2 days, I'll be in charge of Dorothy, all by myself. The thought is currently a bit scary, but we'll see how I do once Elizabeth goes back to work (which will happen soon!).
We took Dorothy in around 8am on Monday. A few of the (up to 6) other babies were there already. Elizabeth had a hard time letting go of her baby. She was a bit emotional when we got back home, but then she napped for over an hour since Dorothy had been fussy all day Sunday and hadn't given us much sleep Sunday night. After about 2 or 3 hours, Elizabeth couldn't stand it any more and had to call to see how Dorothy was doing. Everything, of course, was fine. She'd slept through their morning walk (the kids go out twice per day, weather permitting). We stopped by to see her around 1pm, on our way out to shop for a crib. She was still doing fine. I was glad to see her, but was also happy to be able to get stuff done without having to deal with a baby that might fuss at any moment. Elizabeth was a bit emotional from time to time throughout the day, but overall handled her first day without her baby quite well.
We picked her up around 5:45, after having an early dinner at Conrad's (they have the best steak tips we've ever tasted!). By the end of the meal, I was getting antsy to go see Dorothy and pick her up, so I probably rushed Elizabeth out of the restuarant a bit. When we got there, she was doing just fine. She'd enjoyed some time in the bouncy chair. The ladies who work in her room told us all about how she'd done during the day (mostly fine). All in all, things turned out fine, and Dorothy seemed to enjoy her first big day at daycare. We'll see how things go tomorrow, her second day!
Posted by Tom Nugent at May 18, 2004 10:47 PM