Day Care

 As I might have mentioned in a previous post, my nanny is VERY pregnant so we were faced with an important decision: new nanny or day care?  After speaking with nannies, friends, moms, grandmas and pretty much anyone who would talk, day care seemed to be the popular choice.  Everyone praised it for the social interaction aspect as well as cost savings.  I also didn't want to go through the process of looking for nannies who are ultimately going to spend most of their day on the phone while my kid plays by herself.  Did I mention that Violet paces around the apartment with a phone to her ear while speaking gibberish?  Gee, I wonder where she got that from?
At first I thought I would have a million options since our neighborhood is baby central, but I soon learned that many of these places have a one year waiting list. Who knew I should have been scoping this out while pregnant.   In the end, Gene and I only checked out a few places but both of us really liked the day care we ended up going with.  It's small (max of 12 kids) and located near our apartment, inside of a cozy brownstone with an outdoor play area in the back.  We first went there for a tour several weeks ago and there were two other couples there with their children.  One was a boy of about 2-3 and the other was a six month old baby girl.  While the parents were speaking to the day care provider, the older boy was off to the side playing with the toys and the baby was quietly nestled in between her parents.  The entire hour we were there, that little baby didn't make a peep.  Violet on the other hand was alternating between taking toys away from the older boy and walking over to the baby to try to hit it on the head.  Now in her defense, I am sure she was just trying to see what would happen if you hit the baby upside the head and not actually trying to hurt it.  Just like Gene and I , Violet was probably amazed at how well behaved the baby was and wanted to shake things up a bit.  When she realized that no one is going to let her hit the baby and that the boy was just willing to give up his toys (what fun is that? no challenge!) she quickly changed her strategy and decided to go after the woman in charge of the day care.  She would sneak up on her and try to steal the notepad and pen she was holding, even though she was in a room full of toys, games, puzzles and books. Overall, the tour was a success and Violet had her first day last Friday.
When I dropped her off, I was ready to do exactly what they tell you not to do: have a long dramatic goodbye with lots of hugs and kisses and tell her that I love her and pretty much try to stay there as long as humanly possible.  Before I had a chance to do any of that, the women at the day care told Violet to say goodbye to mommy and before I knew it, my little baby was off to play with the other kids and I was out on the street having no choice but to go get my mani and pedi.  I am proud to say that I only called three times once to check up on her and in the end she was returned to me in one piece looking happy, rested and well fed. The women there told me that she was very well behaved and that she loves music, dancing and the other kids.  In fact, they said she even found herself a boyfriend!  I didn't have my first boyfriend until I was nearly 2, so Violet is definitely starting early.  If the first day is any indication of what lies ahead, then Violet will be just fine!