Aviana started daycare 2 weeks ago today. We thought it best to get her settled in a few weeks before I go back to work and fly to Brussels for a week leaving Chris to pick up the pieces. Well, there haven’t been any pieces to pick up so far! 

We thought she would go off schedule. Nurse all night. Not go to sleep. Catch unknown diseases. Cry when we drop her off. Cry when we pick her up. 

But nope…none of that happened. (So far anyway!)

She smiles at the teachers when we drop her off and when we pick her up she reaches out for me and smiles! Oh my heart melted first time she did that! 

That is except for the day she got her vaccinations-but I think we can all be forgiven for being grumpy on the day we get our shots! Speaking of which I experienced mild panic when the school phoned me to say Aviana had a rash the day she got her vaccinations. I was in the middle of a shop when I got the call. I was only a 10 min drive away. I had two thoughts – 1- finish the shop…she’s fine the school didn’t sound so concerned…then…-2- what if she goes into anaphylactic shock? I should drop everything and run to my car!!! After what seemed forever in deliberations (prob actually 30 seconds) I put everything back on the shelves and dashed to my car. 

When I got there she was screaming blue murder. The poor teachers had about 5 other crying kids at the same time, it must be contagious, but Aviana’s was the loudest! When I went over to her she immediately stopped crying when she saw me! Then the teacher showed me her rash…

Earlier she had a bit of eczema on her tummy and the doctor saw it, but what the teacher was showing me was a whole lot worse. That however is another story…for another day.

It then got me thinking about how far away Chris and I are from her daycare when we are at work. It would take me 20 minutes on a clear run at 2am to drive. But then there is whatever I am doing. I’d have to drop it. Pack up, get to my car etc. I reckon it would be 30 minutes the quickest. And it would be the same for Chris too. That actually seems like a long time if she is actually ill or something happens! But we decided to have the daycare closer to home rather than one of ours work seeing as we both would be picking her up/dropping her off depending on our work schedules.  I guess this is just a taster of the future – because she will get ill whilst she is at daycare. It will happen. But it made us think how we will cope in the future and how we decide who has to drop everything and go pick her up. It’s going to be tricky!

Aviana’s first full week was ‘Teacher’s week’ and they gave us a guide to the events ongoing that week – which included theme gift days. We decided we should participate so not to be rude and bought the teachers some spa stuff on the ‘SPA-T-ON’ day. It was hard because we didn’t yet know all the teachers properly or even what was the done thing! 

The great thing about this daycare is that they use an App to update us on her activities including diaper changes, feeds, naps and when she needs more diapers, wet wipes etc. and they also send pictures!!! I got instant relief to see that she was napping and eating well ☺️

So far I am really pleased with our choice in daycare. The teachers are lovely. I just couldn’t have asked for it to have gone any better than it has so far. I’m feeling confident for going back to work. Of course I’m feeling sad about that, but I know she is in good hands.