Daycare: Colds, Cubbies & Crib Training

(Written by Meg & gifs by Kate)

As we've mentioned here before, Kate went back to work several weeks ago, a momentous occasion for all three of the Curtis ladies. We are lucky enough to have Grandpa Jeff on babysitting duty on Mondays. Fridays in January were covered by a smattering of Grandparents: lucky Ella, lucky mommies. We found a great home daycare a half mile from our apartment that just happens to be cheaper than anywhere else we looked at AND came with a recommendation from a friend of mine. Win, win, win. It just doesn't get any better than that. Ella will be hanging out there Tuesday-Friday while her moms work hard for the money, so hard for it honey.

Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I love an organizing challenge, so getting our supplies ready for daycare felt unreasonably satisfying to me. I have a little checklist of all the things she needs to have in her bag: bibs, bottles, crib sheet, diapers and more. Seeing her little cubby with "Ella" on it was also pretty joyous. Look at us, we're raising a real person with a real cubby!

So far daycare has been a great experience for Ella. It's a relatively small group- 13 kids ranging from 3 months to 3 years, and 3 care providers. The care providers report that Ella loves to watch the older kids run around, and we're not surprised. She prefers to be constantly entertained. Having her at daycare also gave us the push we needed to transition her from sleeping in her bouncy chair (I know, I know #badmommies) to sleeping in her crib, since they won't put her to sleep anywhere except a crib. It's a bilingual daycare with kids of all ethnicities and backgrounds, which we think will be really good for Ella once she, ya know, has any sense of that kind of thing.

Sidenote: I'm quite sure our Spanish-speaking daycare providers initially thought the crazy white lesbian mommies named their child "she." They pronounced her name the Spanish way until someone must have corrected them! I hope they don't think we're nuts.

The only downside to daycare, as far as I can tell, is the germs. Ella and I both endured a stomach bug
her second week at daycare, and both mommies and baby all had a cold last week. Par for the course, I suppose.

Some parents have a really hard time leaving their kids at daycare, and we totally understand that. But handing Ella over to these wonderful ladies and seeing her face light up lets me know that she's totally fine. And at the end of the day when she smells like the daycare provider's perfume, I

know she's better than totally fine. She's being held close and well cared for. Is it hard to be without Ella all day? Sometimes. Does it make us feel more grateful for the time we do get to spend with her? Always.

#badmommies

(written by Meg, gifs by Kate)

Kate and I have this running joke about when we do something with Ella that realistically is totally fine, but is likely something the textbooks would tell you not to do. We've hashtagged these moments "badmommies."  Usually this means we actually say out loud "hashtag badmommies!" as we're committing the offense. 

Here are some examples:

Parking Ella in front of the screen saver on our TV so we can make dinner. #badmommies

Doing tummy time for 10 seconds until she screams and then giving up. #badmommies

Not realizing it was going to rain and showing up at daycare with a fairly wet baby. #badmommies

When was the last time we bathed this creature? #badmommies

Forgetting to pack a bib in the daycare bag. They used a paper towel. #badmommies

Browsing facebook during the 3am feeding. #badmommies

Laughing as your baby slides to the floor? #badmommies

This is supposed to be a funny post, but for a small dose of seriousness, it's kind of a shame that the textbooks (ok, who are we kidding...the internet) offer such a strict and regimented set of rules about how one should parent. There are some obvious no-nos (blankets in the crib, second hand smoke, etc.), but I really think some of the other "rules" are just making us all feel bad.

Any other #badmommies out there?