Double Day Care

Today was Ben’s first day at Day Care.

Jack has been asking for him to go along for a while now and every morning Ben would cry as Jack and I left for school. As the day approached that Ben would actually be going, Jack asked more and more. Well, the day is here.

Taylor and I had trouble letting Jack go. She had it worse than me. He was the first, the baby, and a stranger was caring for him. But, as time went by and we saw the benefits of him going we both grew at ease with it. We would still prefer to stay at home, but economically this is the way it has to be right now. I could do without all the illnesses and ear infections that were undoubtedly the result of daycare exposure, but you cannot fault the learning and social skills Jack gained and which Ben needs to foster.

But, we knew that having Sam care for Ben was not the permanent solution. She has been an absolute godsend and saved us the difficulty of sending an infant to daycare. Because of this, Ben has been much healthier than Jack was. But Ben needs to grow. He needs more words and more friends and things that Sam is just not able to provide in a home setting. She has her own life that she needs to develop and it is not fair for us to prevent her from doing that.

She will still be watching them 2 days a week, so this is not 100% day care or 100% home. It is nice that Taylor and I are able to work from home and get the best of both worlds. This also lets Sam return to a “real life” of school and work while also being an integral part of the lives of her nephews who love her so much.

I have already checked in with the day care to see if Ben’s screaming and biting and stranger danger have been problems. It is not even noon yet. I was prepared for a sad phone call.

“Hello, it is Jack and Ben’s dad.”

“Checking in on Ben?”

“Yeah….is he okay?”

“Yes, he just finished making a turkey. He got the marker on his hands, but we helped him.”

“Has he been screaming or crying?”

“No, not at all. He is doing great.”

Big surprises come in big fat round packages.