Day Care

Ten years from now, Jada will be in fifth grade, and her school day
will run from something like 8 to 3, a total of seven hours away from
home. And yet next week, she'll be starting day care at age 14
months, and she'll be away from home for about ten hours! Granted, it
will only be for three days a week, but still, this is a big step for
her and for us. Before day care, the only times we have both been
away from Jada since we got back from China have been a handful of
"date nights" when we sneak out for pizza after she goes to sleep
while our friend who lives on the third floor keeps an eye out on the
baby monitor, and a three-hour babysitting stint by Amy's sister. And
now we'll be away from her for ten hours at a time, three days a week.

But we're hoping the time away will be good for everyone around. I
start a new job next week, so my chance to watch Jada for hours on end
will be shuttled to the weekend. And Amy has two-and-a-half days of
clinical work for her Masters, so she needs the time away to
concentrate on her work, too. Most importantly, it'll be good for
Jada to make some friends, have some new experiences, and be more
social. So far, she's done good for the thirty or forty minutes or so
when we leave her with the nursery workers during our church's morning
service, so hopefully she'll see day care as a ten-hour version of
that, but with more crafts and enough time for an afternoon nap. Most
of all, we're glad we found a good place, and now we must concern
ourselves with the necessary preparations, like labeling everything
and buying her a couple of outfits we won't mind her coming home in
covered with finger paint.