Daycare Day One

Photo taken by Joel at the St. Jacob's market

Yesterday was a big day in our house. Although I plan to primarily stay home with my boys (read about my decision here), I do feel like it's best for everyone if I can get out of the house once or twice a week. I'll be supply teaching at my school which I'm really looking forward to. I know the people, it's a comfortable environment and it's work I enjoy. We are extremely thankful that we've found and awesome woman who is willing to watch the boys on a part-time and flexible basis. So yesterday was a trial day for her to get to know the boys and for them to get to know her.

I'm not going to lie. It started off rough. While Caleb adjusted as if he'd spent every day of his life there, Micah very quickly let us know that he was not happy with the situation, crying and reaching for us. I hadn't prepared myself for that. When we have babysitters or drop them off in the church nursery we don't have problems. I just assumed it would be more of the same, so I hadn't planned through our approach if there was resistance. In the moment we decided that leaving and letting him work it out with the help of our friend, would be best. After all, we knew he was in good hands. I sat on the porch for a few minutes listening to my child screaming in ways I've rarely heard, just wanting to run in and rescue him. He wasn't the only one in tears. If I could do it again and had thought it through, we would have eased him in, stayed for awhile, been slower. But once we left I knew it would be worse to come back. We stayed in the area for breakfast and received two reassuring phone calls from our daycare provider letting us know he had settled and was doing fine. A weight had been lifted off our shoulders. I'm thankful for the resilience of children despite the mistakes we make as parents.

Once the drama was over, Joel and I ended up having a wonderful day (he took it off so we could take advantage of no kids). We went tubing in the Elora Gorge, which was fun minus the few minutes of cold rain in a slow spot of the river. Then we enjoyed a Mennonite buffet and time wandering through St. Jacob's market. We ended with a competitive game of mini golf which I lost, although not quite as badly as I usually do (oddly enough I went to golf camp in high school and was the top putter in my class!). At least I am still the reigning champion of UNO! It was wonderful to have a day off from the usual work-home life and be together. We were eager to see our boys though and happily spied on them playing in the backyard when we arrived.

I'm looking forward to putting on my teacher hat once or twice a week come September and for my boys to interact more with other people. I know it'll be good for all of us!