This Little Peanut is Going to Daycare?

August may not yet be upon us but back to school is already lurking wherever you turn. Mat leave ended one month ago and the start of daycare is now one month away.

Today is Alex's ten month birthday. The little peanut is everywhere - crawling using his patented 3 leg technique, standing up on anything that is the right height and eating every morsel of food that is placed in front of him.

He can't walk. He can't use a spoon. He doesn't drink cow's milk. He can't eat anything hard due to his lack of teeth. He can't make it past 9:30am without a morning nap.

All perfectly normal for a ten month old. But unfortunately, not so perfectly normal when compared to the 18 month olds with who he will soon be sharing a class.

You see, this little peanut or bunny as we like to call him (for his amazing crawling/hopping skills) came out earlier than expected, making him just shy of the September 30th school cut off date. While I had been rooting for an early delivery so I wouldn't have to wait an extra year to get him into Hannah's daycare, my enthusiasm has now been quelled by fear.

We have been stopping by his future class everyday on the way to dropping his sister off. The first week I attempted to leave him for five minutes while I brought her upstairs. Tears, tears and more tears. So now I sit with him and let him play for a good ten minutes so he gets used to the room and the teachers.

But today I saw the sleeping room with ten pristine cribs lined up in a row and wondered how he is ever going to fall asleep with nine other noisy kids. It happens, eventually, but all seems like such a big adjustment for such a little guy.

How old were your kids when you started sending them to daycare?

Hannah was 18 months old so this is all new to me. Making me want to enjoy this last month we have together all the more. I want to keep this little peanut safe in his shell, for now.

Easy Comeback

We got home from vacation on Monday afternoon.

It was a wonderful trip filled with family, food and fun in the sun. It was most definitely a vacation for the kids with visits to the beach, hours in the pool and visits to the East Hampton Library and the Children's Museum of the East End. I will be putting together a recap of our holiday hot spots (some less kid friendly and more adult appropriate) for Urban Expressions where you can read more about my East Hampton, NY finds.

Like most vacations sleep was an issue. Our first night the four of us packed into a hotel room. And while it was just a one night stop over Hannah didn't get to bed until 10pm (since she was swimming in the hotel's indoor pool while I put Alex to bed) and we were all up at 5am when Alex awoke with the sun. Needless to say we were at a local breakfast spot at 6:45 (it only opened at 7) and were shopping at the nearest Target by 8am.

Hannah decided to stay up with her cousins most nights and Alex decided he wanted to be up before the three dogs we were staying with, waking up at 5am sharp each day. While we were all exhausted it actually worked out well for our activities since he was up from his early nap by 9:30 most mornings.

But the most exciting part is that he totally regulated himself back to his regular schedule on his own. I had fears of post holiday re-ferberization but within a day or two he was back on schedule and even sleeping in until 7am. Yahoo!

So we're back to reality and into the groove but I have officially ended my maternity leave. I've upped the job search and am working on building my freelance career but at the same time leaving Alex each morning in his future daycare class while I bring Hannah upstairs to hers. I figure better to ease him into it seeing as we are in the building daily. Oh yes, reality is totally setting in. And while it's there I still want to enjoy the summer and my last 2 months at home with Alex.

So if you know of anyone looking for some freelance help in marketing, public relations, social media or editorial please send them my way!