Annabelle officially started daycare this week.  It was a bit of a crazy week getting her and me ready.  And so here is my daycare story.  I had totally psyched myself up for the first day.  I even started getting a little excited about all of the things I planned on accomplishing, including getting my syllabi and other class materials ready because classes started for us the following week.  The night before, I loaded up Annabelle’s diaper bag with all of the things she needed and got bottles ready in the refrigerator.  Many of the local schools around town were also starting back the next day.  It was supposed to be one of the coldest days recorded in a long time so there were announcements of schools were closing. But daycares wouldn’t close, would they?  Needless to say, a little after 9pm I got a phone call letting me know that daycare was closed.  Who would have thought daycares close due to cold weather too.  It was a huge letdown.  So, we tried it all again the next day. Officially, our first day of daycare was Tuesday.  Annabelle did great!  She seems to really like all of the interaction she gets with her teachers and the other children.

I had a lot of friends ask how it went as well as a lot of people who mentioned how difficult it can be at first for parents to take their kids to daycare.  I was very fortunate that Annabelle stayed at home for the past 4 1/2 months.  I went back to work after 8 weeks but I worked half of my workweek at school and the other half from home so I got plenty of time with Annabelle.  I was also lucky to have a friend who nannies watch Annabelle while I was at work.  And then I had the last three weeks off of work for winter break so I really felt Annabelle was ready to go to daycare.  And after a week at daycare I’m even happier about her going.  She’s surrounded by so many great caregivers and is meeting lots of new “friends”.

Daycare wasn’t the only thing that changed this week. A couple days before she went to daycare she started making new noises and talking to us a lot more!  It’s so great because she’ll start making these fun high-pitched noises that make no sense at all but you’d think she was telling the best story.  And if we respond with similar noises she’ll go right on telling her story.

Someday I’ll get more sleep but not right now.  She’s officially in her crib.  No more bassinet.  And I love our baby monitor.  It’s really nice to have since I don’t have her right next to me in the middle of the night.  Annabelle did have a couple of good nights of sleeping this week.  I attribute some of it to her busy days at daycare and being exhausted from all of the new stimulation.  I’m still hoping (and hoping) she’ll go back to waking up once to nurse in the middle of the night but no holding my breath.

It seems that Annabelle has naturally started falling asleep on her own this week (most of the time).  One late afternoon (I picked Annabelle up a bit early from daycare) I was trying to clean the bathroom and had put Annabelle in her crib to watch her mobile while I was doing the last bit of scrubbing when she started to fuss.  Five minutes later I walked in her room and she had fallen asleep.  Since then when it’s time for bed I nurse her and then  lay her in her crib, letting her watch her mobile until she falls asleep.  Most of the time she only fusses for a few minutes before closing those pretty little eyes.  It’s not perfect but it’s making bedtime just a little bit easier.