Back to Work & Childcare

All ready to go on his first day.

So I started back at work as a Kindergarten teacher on Monday, and Rowan had his first day of childcare. We both survived, I thrived. So far so good, the last two working days have been overwhelmingly positive and though I know things will get a bit more intense in the coming months, for the time being I’m enjoying the ride.

And then there was childcare... I dropped Rowan off at 7.30am on Monday morning after his milk feed to have breakfast at the centre. He was a little wary but separated okay (as did I – no tears!) and the room leader was really nice about it all. I called his room late morning and one of the carers mentioned that he was asleep. Yes, asleep! The boy who hasn’t taken a morning nap since he was 11 months old. Sure, it turned out to only be an hour’s nap but it totally counts. And there was no more napping for the rest of the day so he definitely slept well that night, but I just couldn’t believe it. I was to finish at 3.15pm that afternoon (the positive thing about starting on the clock by 8am!), to pick up Rowan at around 4pm, and got a phone call from the childcare centre just before 3 asking me to come and get him as he had been distraught for the past hour... poor little man. :(

After picking Rowan up.

When I got to his room, I went in and they put him in my arms, but he was still sobbing quietly. It wasn’t until a few minutes later – after doing a big poo – that it seemed as though he suddenly realised I was there and as he lay on the changetable and I cleaned him up he animatedly came back to life and started chattering about all sorts of things (namely doors, nappies and butterflies). Then he was fine for the rest of the day. Apparently he got to go outside during his day and loved the sandpit (Rowan hasn’t had too much exposure to sand yet), as well as the book area and spent half an hour looking at every single book with one of the carers... sounds like my days with him, really. 


Books are a huge interest area to Rowan, especially if they have a cat in them. Let's hope this (fascination with books) continues as he gets older. So that was our first week... here's to the ones to follow, hopefully they are just as positive.