The Day Care Update

Five weeks in and we are getting encouraging reports from Ada's new day care.

The Good:
She's fitting in. She gets along well and participates in all of the activities.
She behaves well, isn't using her high-pitched squealing voice anymore, except on the indoor play area where they think she gets a little overwhelmed and excited.
She's a good eater.
It seems like drop offs and pick-ups are a bit less dramatic. Still the occasional screaming fit and the "Mommy/Daddy don't go", but we are seeing improvement.

The Bad:
She isn't really napping for very long. Maybe thirty minutes, maybe more or less depending on the day.
Her use of a big girl cup instead of a sippy cup is improving, but could be better. Same with her fork and spoon.
Somehow, she keeps blowing out her diapers during nap time. I don't understand how this is even possible since she only naps for a few minutes, but she's coming home in backup pants more frequently.

In my quest to learn more about how she is acting at day care and if they are having the same issues with diaper changes and overall whineyness that I'm having at home, I wrote a little note hoping they could answer some of my concerns. Ms. Monica, her main caretaker, took time to write back in detail and was very encouraging. Her biggest concern is the whole napping thing, or resistance to napping to be more precise. I'm trying to come up with new solutions and tricks we can try to remedy that little issue so we'll see how it goes.

I'm also trying to figure out how to change her or clean her up before I take her home for the night. Thursday, when I picked her up, I got her outside just as I realized she had a poopy diaper. Since I'm five blocks from home and coming straight from work, I never have diapers or wipes on me. I'm thinking I'll try two things. One, always check her diaper before we leave the building and ask to change it if needed. And two, putting a small bag of wipes and a few backup diapers in her bag in case we run an errand straight from day care and need to make a change along the way. I'm also going to have to just accept the fact that I should always have a small container of wipes in my purse for all of their many uses. They really do come in handy.

Moral of the story: Transitioning into a day care routine isn't easy, but can be made easier through good communication and being on the same page.