Daycare

Last week Mommy uploaded the blog from the Catskills without only Grandpa Ruane's photos, so this week we are throwing in a few picts from last week in as well. Here is one of Aidan playing in the guitar case (he and Daddy played a game where Aidan pretended to go to sleep in the guitar case), and another of Mommy and Aidan and Hannah - a friend of Mommy's from before high school who she reconnected with over Facebook. Hannah came up to have breakfast with Mommy last Friday morning, and they had a lot of fun catching up together.


This week, things have continued to go on at a somewhat frenetic pace. Aidan had his first two days of daycare on Tuesday and Wednesday, and even through the people there are wonderful, the transition has been tough. It is a small family daycare on 163rd street that his friend Cira attends (she loves it) with a woman named Maria Lara (she goes by"Tia Nina"), and Aidan will be attending two full days per week (Tuesday and Wednesday, 9AM-5PM). He was miserable when we left both days this week, and he stayed in his stroller (his safe space) for a long time on Tuesday, (though less time on Wednesday) to adjust. Mommy picked him up early (2:30) on Tuesday, but by Wednesday he managed to go down for a nap there without nursing (not normal for him), and so didn't need to get picked up till the regular time. We were all so proud of him!

On Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, Laurie watched Aidan, and he was thrilled to see her familar face and play with her yellow lab, Mellow. We are doing to transition into a schedule where Aidan is in daycare full days Tuesday and Wednesday, and then does half days with Laurie on Thursday and Friday. That will allow Mommy and Daddy three full days per week to get work done (which we simply just have to have more time for at this point), and will hopefully allow all of us to see each other at night time a few times a week as well. We have done well with our crazy schedule so far (Mommy working 6-11:30AM at Starbucks, Daddy at his office 12/1-10PM at his office), but is exhausting, and we need to do something different. We hope that this will be a good option for us for at least a little while.

Since Aidan will be in daycare now regularly, and Mommy is going to be gone most of the day for the next two weeks at a UN event for the next two full weeks, Mommy and Daddy are finally working really hard to help Aidan go to sleep by himself. Until now, he has nursed to sleep at naps and at bedtime, and so it is hard. But he is making great progress, and we are very proud of him! By the end of this week, even when Mommy was around, Aidan was able to cuddle to sleep rather than nursing, and that is a very big step for all of us. The transition is emotionally exhausing, but we know it will be worth it and everyone will be happier because of the change, so we are committed to the change.