I went back to work today and Edward started daycare. I think we both did OK. It was hard to leave him, but John and I feel that the daycare is a loving and stimulating environment for him and that makes us comfortable. We have friends who have been taking their daughter there since last fall so Edward even has a friend in the room with him and we can check up on each others' kids when we're there.
My supervisors agreed to let me work part time for the next year, 20 hours per week. For now it will be 8 a.m. to noon daily and we'll see how/if that works. I am lucky to have such flexible and cooperative coworkers and doubly lucky that the university provides benefits to part time workers. The key is health insurance--with John working for a small start-up it would be way too expensive to handle on our own!
It was weird to be back. I'd forgotten all my passwords and some of the function of my work computer (a Mac--we have a PC at home) but it slowly came back to me. I already have two projects to work on before the end of the week, so there won't be any problem staying busy!
Edward did fine at daycare, his teachers reported. The only problem is that he doesn't sleep well in a crib during the day, which is weird because he sleeps fine there at night. But daytime he sleeps best in his carseat, bouncy chair, or being held. The daycare has a policy that babies must sleep in cribs-for SIDS protection. So every time he fell asleep today in his bouncy chair, or in his teacher's arms after eating, they put him in the crib where he only lasted 15-20 minutes before waking up and wanting out. We may sign a waiver and get his doctor to write a note saying it's OK for him to sleep in his carseat. We'll have to see how things go for the next few days. He basically fell asleep before I even got him to the car and stayed asleep after we got home until about 2:30. He might have slept longer, but I heard some gastrointestinal production and decided to take him out to change him. Then he realized he hadn't eaten since 11 a.m. and totally chowed down.
All in all, a good day. We hope for many more like it!
