Flying the coop already

Back from daycare - clearly traumatised

Today Alex had his first day in daycare. His first day away from both mum and dad in 372 days (aka his whole life so far). It was only the second day I'd ever been away from the little man for more than a few hours. 

We'd researched and visited lots of childcare offerings near home and Haydn's work, we'd planned the day carefully, we'd practised by visiting the centre for the past two days to get us comfortable with the place - yet still I found it a traumatic experience. Notice I found it traumatic, Alex apparently didn't have such difficulties adjusting. Apart from a brief cry after I left - quickly overcome by discovering a new toy in the sandpit, and a few incidents with particularly scary bubbles Alex handled the whole affair very well.

He even managed to sleep, in a strange place, with a bunch of other babies snuffling and wining next to him, with noisy kids running around outside the room, for an hour and a half! An hour and a half! I can't get him to sleep that long in a silent room, with his favourite comforting toys and me tiptoeing and holding my breath outside.

Perhaps the whole situation was so traumatic for him that all he could do was sleep and hope the nightmare would be over when he wakes, perhaps the staff from the daycare centre always tell you that your child handled their first day better than most, and tell all parents that their children hardly cried even though they'd actually been in tears for hours, perhaps they'd say anything to stop you removing your child and depriving them of their extortionate fees. Perhaps I had far too much time to think about all this while Alex was happily playing with his new friends.