Grey in his car seat, in the morning on his way to his first day of daycare.
Also by request, I will tell you a bit about Grey at daycare. We started him last Monday, the day before our first required day of work. I was a wreck the whole weekend before; even now I get sad thinking about how Grey spends his days without me. Anyways, we had visited our daycare center a lot of times before, so when we dropped Grey off he would be familiar with the sounds and toys. Grey had a really good first day - he took all of his bottles wonderfully and he wasn't cranky at all. I had nightmares that when it came to nap time, they would just put him in the crib and leave him to cry himself to sleep. However, he has been doing amazing with his naps - the very first nap, he fell asleep in Mr. Damon's arms (something he rarely does anymore) and Mr. Damon says that now he goes down almost the second he puts him in the crib. And, yesterday and today, he took a 2.5 and then a 3 hour nap!!! He must be comfortable there :).
Our center does cloth diapers for us, which has saved us a TON of money. They also are very flexible with the breastmilk bottles and homemade food we bring. They usually supply everything except diapers (formula, food, wipes, etc), so sometimes I think they feel bad that we do so much "work" because they always wash our bottles and food containers! They even packed our bag for us today with the cloth diaper bag and all of the washed containers. They are very thoughtful and kind with every aspect of childcare.
Anyways, to continue through last week, Grey struggled after his great Monday start. He wasn't fussy or cranky, he just wouldn't eat his bottles. Mr. Damon said he didn't even cry as if terribly hungry, he just didn't eat them. He would push the bottle away, and get mad until you sat him up to play. I worried and worried and worried about this, and called a million times during the day to see if he ate, and each time they would have the same answer - he didn't eat, but he isn't fussy at all. (BTW I read about this- how some babies wait to nurse by treating the day like it is night and not eating for 9-10 hours, then they nurse during the night as if it is the daytime). So, after only eating 2 or so ounces per day out of the 15 I was giving them, Mr. Damon started trying different nipples on our bottles to see if that would work. Sure enough, he now likes a newborn flow, very very soft nipple. So weird!! But, that is how he eats now, so we will go with it! He takes all of his food and bottles perfectly, and actually, Mr. Damon says he is the best solid food eater out of the bunch.
Now he is recognizing things at daycare - his favorite train that makes animal sounds, the big mirror he can sit in front of, and Mr. Damon, his main caretaker. I call twice a day to check on him, and each time Mr. Damon gets someone to cover his kids so he can tell me how Grey is doing. Each day we get a report on what Grey did that day. Many days, his daily report will say what books they read, or what songs they sang, but a few times his report will end with, "... but most of all, I had fun just sitting and watching all the other kids." I guess all his likes to do is sit up and watch everyone else crawl and play! So cute, it reminds me of how Gemma used to sit and watch the kids go in circles at the Curl house.
Also, Mr. Damon will either tell us or write in his report what they did that day to make Grey laugh. I guess he and the girl teachers from the 0-6 month side of the room always either play or sing or dance to get Grey to laugh because they love to hear him laugh so much (he now does the big, deep full-belly laugh that is like a real little person laugh).
As the days pass, I get more and more comfortable dropping him off in the morning. It is still hard for me to think about someone else feeding him, or playing with him. But, I really love our center, and I know that he is well taken care of.
Bonus Grey pic: Look how strong I am!
