Here Comes Lucy

Last Thursday we brought Lucy in to the daycare center to get a little orientation to the infant room. We received one back in January when we were looking at new daycare centers. That was a long time ago, though, and given that I nearly passed out while I was there (don't think I ever blogged about that, but I blame it on an overachieving heating system, no protein for breakfast, and the fact that I was 5 months pregnant. V., v. embarrassing, but no harm done), it seemed like a good idea to get a refresher.

It was all pretty standard fare, for the most part. The usual sick policy stuff, a rundown of how often all the toys are cleaned (often), how often diapers are changed (also often - every 2 hours, or sooner if poop is involved), etc. We will bring in extra clothes (lots!), bibs (lots and lots!), burp cloths, a couple of blankets, a couple of pacifiers, a sun hat (they do try to take the infants outside every now and then), a mobile for her crib (not required, but helps to distract if the caregiver can't attend to Lucy right away when she wakes up), bottles (already made up), diaper rash cream, and the kitchen sink. Good lord, the list is long. Of course, most of those things will live at daycare, so M. will only have to carry in a mountain of stuff the first day. Subsequent days should be a bit more manageable.

Two things that we do not have to bring in are diapers and wipes - score! I'd say that's a huge money saver (and it is), but honestly it's a drop in the bucket compared to the eleventy-million dollars we'll be paying each week to have two kids in daycare.

There are only 3 babies on the small infant side of the room right now (enrollment is down all over the center, and I think that's true everywhere as I keep seeing daycare signs advertising vacancies all over town - side effect of the crappy economy I guess), so Lucy will have just one primary teacher for most of each day. Her name is Babs, and she's a bit much. Very thorough, and I'm sure she'll do a good job. But she's been doing this for a long time, and clearly has her own ideas about how one should raise babies. It's OK, as it seems her opinions match ours on key things (she rocks babies to sleep if they need it, thinks lots of floor time is important, gives little ones pacifiers whenever they need it but restricts pacifier use to sleeping only when babies get older, etc). But should we ever disagree I'm sure there will be some resistance on her part to change how she does things. I'm no rookie, though, so I'll have no problem insisting on what I want for my child.

As part of the paperwork we had to fill out for Lucy, there was a standard "All About My Child" sheet that the state provides. Clearly it's meant for older children, as it seemed a bit ridiculous to try to find things to write to fill the boxes. For example, "Things my child is good at." Um, she's pretty good at standing if you help her up and hold on to her? Or "Things I'm working on with my child." Falling asleep on her own? I mean seriously, what am I supposed to write? We're working on solving differential equations, and I'm concerned that Lucy's just not getting the concept yet?

The one box that's actually useful for an infant, the one that asks you describe any routines your child follows, is the smallest box on the form. So, as helpful as that form may be to Babs, Lucy will be accompanied tomorrow by a printed copy of a Word document I put together to describe all the Lucy essentials for taking care of her. How often she eats, how often she sleeps, how we get her to go to sleep, what makes her fussy, even a sample schedule. I broke down and used a Word document because I can update it periodically and bring in a new copy when things change. I'm hoping it's an improvement over the endless pieces of small notebook paper I used to bring in for Finn.

I'm not nervous about Lucy going to daycare tomorrow, and I'm not worried that she'll be miserable. I know she'll be a horrible sleeper there, and that's OK. They'll take good care of her, and I'm sure she'll get lots of attention. I am sad, though. I'm sad that I'm not going to know what every minute of Lucy's day is like anymore. I won't know what all her moods were, what things made her smile, what things made her laugh. I had a hard time with that while M. was taking care of her, too, perhaps even a harder time than I will with daycare. At least daycare will give me an exact reporting of how long each nap was and how many ounces she drank from each bottle. I think it's safe to say that I'm a little bit of a micro-manager, and I don't like that I won't be able to have a say in all the little aspects of Lucy's days anymore.

Yikes, it's already 10 pm, time to get myself to bed. Just a few more hours until Lucy wakes up (sleeping through the night is still not happening again), and then a couple more before the mad morning rush begins. I leave you with some pictures:


Such a happy baby!


Not to mention cute.


Blowing bubbles with an excess of drool


Modeling the floaties that we FINALLY got him to use in the pool this weekend


Chilling with some toys


Slings, not just for carrying babies, also excellent for stuffed dogs