After almost a year of great big life changing events, this week (hopefully) marks the last big adjustment we’ll have to make in a while. On Monday, I went back to work and Alaina had her first day at school.
I can’t really say I was looking forward to going back to work, but after being out for 14 weeks, I wasn’t dreading it quite as much as I had expected to. I love Alaina more and more every day, and having the chance to spend almost every minute of her first few months watching her grow and change was one of the greatest experiences of my life. At the same time, having a life that revolves around diaper and feeding schedules was starting to get to me. And knowing that there are some things I should have been doing as a parent that would have been good for Alaina and me (like putting her down for regular naps) that I just couldn’t get into the habit of doing just proved to me that going back to work might be good for both of us.
This year marks my 11th year of working for The McGraw-Hill Companies, so going back to work should have been a matter of settling back into an old routine. I was a little nervous about it, though, because not only did I leave just as my first big project was getting started, but the company also closed the building I was working in while I was out and moved the people from that location back to the Polaris building, which is where I started 11 years ago. Although I was glad to be working in a building that’s closer to home and much nicer than the Easton building I left in December, a lot has changed at Polaris since the last time I was there, and I was afraid I would feel like a kid starting at a new school. For a few weeks, I toyed with the idea of bringing Alaina in to the Polaris building to introduce her to my friends (and to have them show me where my new desk was). I put it off until the last possible moment, but I did end up bringing her up there last Friday. And I’m really glad I did. Seeing old friends and getting my bearings in the “new” building before my first day made me feel much better about coming back. It reminded me that although working in a cube farm isn’t always glamorous, I do like my job and the friends that I’ve made, and that helps me get through the day. I wish I could say that the project I left was a little farther along than it is (like completely finished, maybe), but that’s not so much the case. Oh well. That just means that I’ll have less time to waste while I’m at work, which also means less time to miss the kid.
I felt the same way about taking Alaina to school as I did about going to work. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to being away from her all day, but I didn’t see it as being the end of the world, either. I know there’s a lot of controversy in some circles about whether we can ruin our kids by putting them in school too soon (or even at all), and that some people think it’s disgraceful to let people at daycare “raise” your kids. A part of me certainly agrees with that idea. The fact that I got pregnant and chose to bring a child into this world means that I am responsible for making sure she gets the best possible care and has the best possible opportunities to grow up and become a successful member of society. At the same time, I know enough about myself to know that I’m not cut out to give a tiny person the kind of patient attention she needs 24 hours a day.
Philip and I began our search for a school for Alaina last September. That was actually one of the first things we did because it was a straightforward task that I understood how to accomplish (unlike all of the other planning we had to do to get ready for our first baby). And thank goodness we did it so early because those places have waiting lists! I think we toured only 3 schools, each of them unique in their own way. The first was a brand new facility that seemed nice enough, if not a little sparse and empty because there were hardly any kids enrolled at the time. But given the location and the fact that we didn’t need childcare for 6 more months at that time, I figured they had time to work some of that stuff out. The second facility was one that I drove by every day on my way to work. I’d always wondered what kind of place it was because on the outside it kind of reminded me of the daycare I went to when I was little. But I was less than impressed with what I saw on the inside. It just seemed so institutional and….used. Given those two options, I was feeling pretty good about the first place, but I don’t think Philip was convinced. On a whim, we decided to visit one more school late one afternoon, and that’s when we discovered Primrose.
The Primrose location we visited is in Lewis Center. I didn’t even know it was there until I started researching daycare centers, and I had never heard of Primrose schools. Actually, that’s not true. One of our neighbors has a Primrose magnet on her car, but since I’ve never seen schools advertised like that before, I figured it was some kind of elite private school that her kids went to. Not so. At it’s core, Primrose is very similar to the other schools we visited or looked into. They all have their own “curriculums,” and most of the classrooms are very similar. But what immediately struck me about the Primrose in Lewis Center was that it feels like a private school when you walk in. Instead of cinderblock walls and white tile floors, Primrose has wood floors and wood trim on the nicely painted walls (which are not painted in primary colors, which I’m not a big fan of). We happened to arrive right when parents were starting to come to pick up their kids, and it was nice to see every family stop at the front desk to chat with the staff and to see that the staff knew everyone by name. As we took our tour, the thing that I was most excited to learn was that each school has its own chef, and that instead of serving just crackers and juice at every turn, they actually offer fruits and vegetables and other nutritious options. Overall, I think Primrose felt so much more comfortable and cheerful to me, and I think Philip agreed. I left that visit saying “we’ve got to find a way to get our kid into this school!”
Unfortunately, the Lewis Center Primrose didn’t have an opening in their Infant room until September of 2012, which was too late. After doing some quick research, we found another Primrose location that was still pretty convenient, and we toured that location as well. I still had the warm and fuzzies after that tour, and was so excited to hear that they had an opening in April of 2012, which was exactly what we needed. I don’t know how we got that lucky (I heard this week that their waiting list now stretches to September of 2013), but I’m so glad we did!
Alaina was exactly 12 weeks old on her first day of school. In a way, I think that was a good thing because she didn’t have the awareness to be nervous or scared or sad that we had to drop her off and leave her somewhere new all day. We visited her classroom a few times in the weeks leading up to her first day, mostly so that I could get acclimated to the idea of leaving her there, but also so she could maybe get a little familiar with it. Spending time in that room and watching the teachers handle the constant diaper changes and feeding schedules while also finding time to read books, sing songs, and do simple art projects certainly gave me a respect for what they do. And it reminded me that Alaina would be experiencing things at school that she couldn’t get at home.
So now it’s Friday afternoon and I’m counting the minutes until I can shut down my computer and go pick up my kickie pants. My first few days at the office were pretty good—people came to chat all the time and I slowly eased back into having tasks to complete. I actually didn’t feel too badly about having to sit in this cube. But I’m over it now. Before I came back I submitted a proposal to telecommute full time. It hasn’t been rejected yet, but it also hasn’t been approved. That’s one of the things that keeps me from falling back into the work rut that I was in before I left. Alaina, on the other hand, has done wonderfully at school. She’s eating and napping on a more regular schedule, and she came home two out of the last four days with paint underneath her nails (one day it was fingers and one day it was toes). Last night we got her first official artwork from school (a bunny with her footprints on the ears). And suddenly all the girl wants to do all evening is sleep. For the past two nights she’s fallen asleep a little after 6 and hasn’t wanted to wake up again until around 6 the next morning. It makes me a little sad that I don’t get to interact with her as much during the day, but I guess I really shouldn’t complain about a baby who sleeps through the night!
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| Alaina's first day of school. |
