D-Day

It's here. The day I've been dreading for over a year now: Kaylin's first day at daycare. As the first day of a two-week transition into our daycare, Kaylin and I spent an hour there this morning. While Kaylin had lots of fun playing with a room full of toys she'd never seen before, I was not so joyous. In fact, shell-shocked about describes how I felt.

I imagined this morning would be calm and quiet. I pictured a nice little meeting with Kaylin's daycare provider, telling her all about our normal routine, what Kaylin likes and doesn't like, what words and signs she knows. Then the provider would look at me, notice the worry and concern in my eyes, gently touch me on the shoulder and say, "It's all right mom, we're going to take wonderful care of your little angel."

Instead we arrived to loud children's music, a crying baby, and seven other little ones scrambling around crashing toys and other plastic objects to the ground. It probably took me about five minutes before I even considered putting Kaylin down. I was sure she would instantly turn around and give me the "pick me up" arms. But she didn't. She wandered over to a new-to-her toy and began playing. That made me feel a lot better.

In fact, she seemed to have a lot of fun this morning. She probably thinks we were at some fun place where kids meet to play for a while. Little does she know that she's going back there again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day...

I'd better bring a box of Kleenex tomorrow.