First Day of Daycare

The day finally came for me to go back to work. So, today, the day after Labor Day, was Larkin's first day of daycare. Yes, it was hard and I thought of her all day, but we both actually did really well.

Larkin is currently going to an in-home daycare until her school daycare spot is available. The daycare provider's name is Michelle and when we did a practice playdate last week, it went really well. There's a total of 6 kids there, including Larkin. There are 4 toddlers and another baby, a boy Collin, that's about 1.5 weeks older than Larkin.

When I dropped Larkin off at Michelle's house this morning, I was happy to see her give Michelle a smile. Then, after going over things with Michelle and showering Larkin with a ton of kisses, I headed out the door. As I got out of her view, Larkin let out a "Eeek!" squeak and I knew that she loved me. I didn't cry on my way to work, which is a good thing since it was the day after Labor Day and traffic was horrible! I arrived to work only 20 minutes late... not bad for the first day, I thought.

My first day back went really well. My friend and colleague, Erin, baked some yummy cookies and lemon squares for the occasion, and all of my work friends came by throughout the day to welcome me back. It made me feel so good, and it was great to see them! I actually got very little work done all day... the day flew by with me just catching up with my work friends!

I was so excited to pick up Larkin at the end of the day and to see how it went for her. I didn't get any calls from Michelle during the day, so I assumed that it hadn't been a disaster. When I arrived, Larkin was sitting in a bouncer seat and looked as happy as a clam. She was completely content and that made me feel really good. Michelle also said that she had had a great first day! Yay! She loved watching the older kids and supposedly she and Collin checked each other out when they both were laying on the play mat! Larkin gets a daily report card, of sorts, and it looked like things went really well with naps, feedings, etc. In fact, Larkin only seemed to get a little fussy when I took her out of her bouncer to smother her with kisses and put her in her car seat! I guess she wasn't as excited to see me as I was to see her. No, really, it went so well and she was exhausted by her big day that she zonked out as soon as we got home. It was a good first day for both of us.