Daycare

Since daycare waiting lists are months long, we knew we couldn't wait to find somewhere that we liked that would have an opening within a month of us arriving in Maryland. Luckily, a friend in Germany highly recommended the daycare her son went to and we were able to reserve a spot for Emma a few months before we returned home.

We visited the daycare for a tour in January and were really impressed with the facility and the staff. Emma will get her own learning plan and we will be updated with her progress monthly. During the visit, Emma was excited to see other kiddos and new toys. We let Emma play with the kids in the room she would be in when she started while we checked out the room next door. We were really impressed that Emma let us walk into the next room since she has been very clingy lately. We hoped that this was a sign that she would like daycare and look forward to it. We watched as she and a little boy passed a toy back and forth a few times before Emma knocked him over while using him to try to stand up. *sigh* We just know that Emma is going to be the cause of many incident reports.

Last week, Emma (or maybe Mommy) had a trial week at daycare. Emma went for 5-6 hours 4 days. She did really well and only cried 2 days when we dropped her off. The other days, she was playing and didn't seem to notice when we left. The staff said she did really well and had a lot of fun. So far, the biggest hiccup is that she won't take a bottle from anyone there. As a result, we've just started to send more food with her so that she's not hungry.

Yesterday was Emma's first full day at "school." Unfortunately, she didn't sleep well the night before, so she was cranky and fussy during the day. The staff said she did well though. Once we got her home, she was so happy and excited to be with us that she just played and talked and ran around. She was so cute! It was amazing how quickly the evening went by. Before we knew it, we were in the midst of bath time and then getting ready for Tuesday.

Ironically, of the 6 days that Emma has been in daycare, she has only greeted us with a smile one time when we picked her up. Each time she saw us the other 5 days, she immediately broke out in tears. Poor girl. Hopefully, she'll realize soon that we'll always come back for her!  

Emma did better today after a good night's sleep. Additionally, the director told me that Emma will graduate to the next room on Monday. The "First Steps" room seems to be better suited for her since she's so mobile even though she's a bit younger than the other kids. We're really excited about this since we didn't think the infant room gave her enough to do since she's used to walking around so much.