Today I’m sharing a few reflections on my first day post maternity leave. I am very fortunate to have spent 7 months home with my daughter. She will be attending daycare which we call baby school while I am teaching in the first grade classroom.
Dropping Annabelle off for the first day of Baby School was nothing like I imagined. I envisioned tears flowing on both her and my parts, as well as a sad baby who would reach for her Mommy and Daddy as soon as we put her down. I had nightmares that the baby school teacher would call and say she had been crying ALL day – that someone had to come pick her up. I worried she wouldn’t eat. I feared she wouldn’t sleep. I shared all of my paranoia with you multiple times.
The first day post maternity leave Recap
We started off the morning with a smiley happy baby. She woke up on her own around 5:30 and we had NO trouble getting her ready for school, as well as keeping her entertained while we got ready for work. When we arrived at baby school, Annabelle was looking around excitedly. She pretty much crawled out of our arms like we were on fire to get to all of the toys.
There were two other babies there, but she didn’t care much for them. She did smile and slap her hands together (which means she is happy) while checking out a non-mobile baby, but that was about it. When we finally said good-bye, I held myself together. Didn’t shed one tear the whole day! I am pretty sure I cried enough last week when it all hit me that I was leaving her to go back to work that there weren’t any tears left in my body.
I am happy to say that Annabelle officially completed her first day of Baby School with great success. She ate all of her food, took three naps, had one blowout, and only screamed a few times. Obviously she just wanted everyone to know she is the loudest baby in the class!
One of the best things about Annabelle’s Baby School is that they send you pictures throughout the day!
We also receive a daily report after Baby School closes that includes details about Annabelle’s day – how many times she went potty, how long she napped, how much she ate, etc. I am looking forward to having a few weeks of these reports. I want to see if she develops a new routine!
So… now that day 1 is down in the books, I wonder how day 2 will go?
I’m so glad for you! My Little One loves daycare too. She has no issues being dropped off and she loves being around the other kids. I’m glad it went so well for you. It’s so much easier going to work knowing that your baby is happy.
Sounds like a GREAT baby school!
Glad to hear it went so smoothly! And how great is that, that they send you pics!
That’s great that she did so well and congrats to you for holding it together!!!
So glad she did well at daycare; kids are so resilient! Love that they give you a daily report, even at her age.
(P.S. Just a question…why do you call it baby school when it’s daycare? I’m honestly curious.)