Going to school

Since before Adelaida was born, I've been planning to put her in daycare and continue working while she's an infant, although the exact details of this plan have changed somewhat over time.

We looked at several daycare facilities before Adelaida was born and learned that none of the large, accredited daycare facilities accept children younger than six weeks old. If we really wanted her in daycare before six weeks, we could use a private in-home daycare, but we thought it would probably be good for me to stay home with Adelaida for a while anyway, so we found a great daycare (really more of a "school" for babies) and planned to start her in school around February 1.

Then Adelaida was born, and the thought of letting someone else care for her was just too much! So, we immediately called the school and changed her start date to April 1, so I'd be able to stay home with her for three and a half months. (I use the term "stay at home" loosely, as Adelaida and I have rarely stayed at home. Instead, she joins me wherever I'm going. Starting about the time she was a month old, we've gone out almost every day. Sometimes we just go to the grocery store or meet other moms and babies for a walk in Albuquerque; other days she goes to work with me for six or eight hours and plays at my desk while I work.)

At the end of March, I was scheduled to present my chemistry research at a national chemistry conference in Salt Lake City, so was working a lot in February and March to prepare for this presentation. Working so much meant that I wasn't able to spend as much quality time with Adelaida as I would have liked, so we decided to delay her school once again, until May 1, so I'd have a relatively stress-free month with Adelaida before going back to work.

May 1st was a Friday, and rather than actually leave her at school that day, I decided instead to take her to school and spend some time with her there, playing with the toys and checking out her school crib. We spent about two hours there, met her teachers and got to know the school room a little better, then Adelaida and I both left together.

That Sunday evening, I prepared everything I'd need to leave my little girl at school for a whole day. Sunday night, Adelaida woke up several times during the night coughing. Monday morning, she had a coughing fit that lasted several minutes and sounded awful. Rather than taking her to school, I took her to the doctor; she had croup and was ordered to stay out of school for five days.

I knew that kids who are in daycare have more illness than kids that don't go to daycare, but I had expected that she wouldn't get sick until she'd actually been in school for at least one day!

Anyway, we stayed home together all of her first week of school. I don't think Adelaida actually had croup; I think she just had a bad cold (which she gave to me, so we were both sick together). She's still congested and coughing, but she has been going to school for the past two weeks.

We're starting with about three days a week of school, and will slowly work our way up to full-time. The school is great -- they do a lot of activities with the babies and Adelaida seems to enjoy it. The only problem we're having right now is that Adelaida doesn't sleep very much at school-- usually less than an hour of sleep in a six- or eight-hour day (she sleeps about four hours in eight when she's at home with me!). But, she does sleep a lot in the evenings after we pick her up from school. Unfortunately, that means I don't get to spend as much time with her as I'd like!