That might not sound like much, but let me provide a bit of context. Back in the pre-Charlie days I swore up and down that if God ever blessed me with a child (and for a couple of years it seemed quite unlikely), I would under no circumstances ever send my child to daycare. In fact, I was known to ramble on and on about how I would sell everything I owned and live in a trailer if that's what it took, blah, blah, blah...
Well, fast forward past 3 1/2 years of infertility during which time Jason and I purchased a home immediately prior to the housing crash, to a surprise (best surprise in history, I might add) baby -- and we were a bit stuck.
Immediately after finding out I was pregnant I started to worry about finances, childcare, trailers, winning the lottery, being chosen by Oprah to have my house paid off (who knows!?), etc. Realizing that we could sell our house, live in a trailer and I would still have to work, due to the almost triple digit decrease in our home's value, I finally started researching daycares at about 12 weeks.
Based on many phone calls, a detailed spreadsheet and basic geographic desirability, our first visit was to ToyBox daycare, just 7 minutes from the house. I walked in fully expecting to despise everything about the people, the facility, the other kids, etc -- after all, it was daycare! It actually came as something as a disappointment to me that I liked the two sisters that ran the facility, was impressed by the staff and enjoyed the cozy, family atmosphere.
Nonetheless, I was overjoyed when I ran into our beloved Donna in the yard later that day and upon hearing about our visit and my reluctance to stop hating daycare, she offered to watch Charlie for the first year. It was like a dream come true.
After some further discussion and a bit of negotiation (we finally just had to insist that she allow us to pay her or refuse to let Charlie come over!), Charlie spent months 3 through 14 immediately next door while I worked. I was able to visit for lunch and watch him play in the yard as he got older. It was absolutely perfect.
In late June of last year, we neared the one year mark and it became quite clear that Charlie was ready for more: more kids, more running, more activities, and most importantly, more social interaction. Admittedly, I was too close to the situation and too anti-daycare to admit it, but loving Charlie as much as she does, Donna gently told me that it was time.
I have to admit that I felt like throwing up for about two days. The guilt of having a nice home and not having saved more money for the baby we didn't think we could have and even worse, for enjoying the fact that I had some adult time and purpose to my day was almost overwhelming.
Finally though, I called ToyBox and asked to get on the waiting list for the toddler room, fully expecting to have 2 to 3 months to get used to the idea...not so much. With it being the start of summer, they had an opening for Charlie in 11 days! It was June 3 -- he could start June 14. I was stunned, and I when I told Donna I think she wanted to reconsider, but we all pushed forward, and on June 14 I dressed Charlie in his navy blue keds, took pictures on the porch and shuttled him off to school.
We walked into his classroom room around 9:00, and I was back by 2:15...having spent the entire day watching the clock (my boss had been warned, though, so it was ok). Day two he stayed a little longer, and eventually we were on a regular schedule of 8:45 to 3:30 (I would have preferred 3:00, but somebody got upset if I came during snack...shocking!)
And you know what? It's been fabulous. Charlie loves his teachers and friends and all of the songs and crafts and activities. I love knowing that he is learning and growing and being adored all day long (as he so clearly deserves), and especially that he gets to spend his days socializing with other kids. We hope and pray that Charlie will not remain an only child forever, but unless and until God decides to give him a sibling, a childless environment is just not a good solution for our little social butterfly -- and even then, who knows?
I've realized that my attitude towards daycare was founded on my own desire not to work, an extremely limited understanding of the daycare options and way too much Dateline. While daycare is definitely not the right solution for all kids and not all daycares are as wonderful as ours, ToyBox is perfect for my Charlie (thanks to Jo-Jo, Amanda, Brenda, Janet, Britanny B, Brittany P, Jessiray, Nikita, Linda and Chelsea!).
So I guess the big surprise of our one year anniversary at daycare is that it was a complete non-event -- it fits so well that the big day went completely unnoticed. For that, I am extremely grateful.
Charlie's Very First "Daycare Provider"
With Miss Donna
First Day of School
At his "desk"
