First Week at Daycare...

16 Weeks.

I'm pleased to inform you that Jaden has easily transitioned to daycare and actually seems to look forward to it. We really lucked out and found a wonderfully relaxed woman named Lori who has all the qualities we wanted in a provider - someone who values education, stimulation and nutrition, and who would love him as her own. She works out of her home and is a very short drive from our house.

The first day, Mike and I dropped him off and left as quickly to avoid the fallout that would've ruined my day, for sure. When I arrived at Lori's house at the end of my workday, I was greeted by a bouncing (literally), smiley boy and it made it all worth going back to work full-time. Every day thereafter, he smiles big when we buckle him into his car seat in the mornings.

Lori reports that he is certainly the loudest baby she's ever had in her care (surprised?) in her 15 YEARS of caring for children. However, she does think he is advanced for his age as far as his awareness and interaction with toys. She props him up in front of a play center and off he goes, pushing buttons and such. He also has an appreciation for music (daddy had him watching Coldplay Live in Concert on the TV this morning). I hope that was my influence - I listened to music constantly throughout my pregnancy.

Lately, we've been noticing Jaden drooling excessively and gnawing at his fists, the first warning signs of early teething. His sleeping pattern has also changed from sleeping an awesome 7-8 hours through the night to waking every two hours, cranky and ready to eat. Needless to say my first week back at work was hazy due to my lack of sleep. In order to function during the day, I had to do what was necessary at the time and threw him in the bed with us, which he appreciated. Maybe that was his plan all along, because he's been sleeping with us ever since!

The past couple of weeks have been pretty difficult with his crankiness and lack of sleep due to apparent teething. When I went to pick him up on Thursday, Lori told me that she thinks he wasn't getting enough to eat and that she had gone through the breast milk reserve, after which he was very mellow and content. He was also wasn't chewing on his fists as much. She suggested to start supplementing with formula, which would help with his sleep as well. It appears that he isn't teething, but is hungry! Feeling guilty, I tried to feed him a full bottle of formula that night and he hated it and refused. The next day, Lori fed him half formula, half breast milk and he ate a whopping 13 oz. in her care! We've been sticking to the half-and-half since then and he is a different baby - more mellow and happy. My only dislike about the formula? Nasty, smelly diapers (Mike says the pure breast milk diapers smell like Froot Loops cereal, which ain't so bad). YUCK. I'm disappointed that I am not producing as much milk to fill his tummy, but am glad that he's warmed up to formula and is content for longer periods. Soon we will introduce cereal (and the crib), which should be fun. I'm being facetious as far as the latter goes. I'll leave the crib ordeal for another post, another day...

Speaking of food, I gotta go...the boy's HUNGRY!