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.

The Childcare Experience

I really felt for Rowan today (and for myself!), it was his first experience in childcare. Admittedly, only a short play (~40min) as part of his orientation before starting on Monday, but not an overly positive experience. It took him a while to stop clinging to me, but eventually I settled him and went to go and sit in the foyer for a bit. One of the carers came out about 20 minutes later and asked if it was okay for Rowan to have lunch with them since the food trolley was coming around. I thought he’d be thrilled by this as he loves food very much, but apparently this was the icing on the cake and too much for him to take in... as they put a little bowl of baked beans with potato in front of him, he burst into tears and was inconsolable! :(

So I was called back into the room to try and settle him, and encourage him to try some food (which he did, but wanted to feed me first :P). Poor boy, when I got back there Rowan was sobbing in the book area with snot running down his face and his whole body wracked with each sob. I’m not used to seeing him like this, so it came as a shock to me – I was expecting a little clinginess or a few tears. After he had a few mouthfuls of food and a drink of water, we arranged to come back tomorrow and Rowan retrieved my bag and made a beeline for the door.

Do I feel good about making the decision to start him in childcare? Definitely not, I just hope that the adjustment period isn’t too difficult for him – I’m expecting it to last a month or so (he’s only attending one day per week), but this is our only choice for a Monday so we all need to get through it. Here’s hoping tomorrow’s play is a better one!

Life in an Instagram

I wrote a long blog post today but accidentally deleted it (oops!), so you get the short and sweet version: I'll be returning to work as a teacher on July 16th (start of Term 3 here in Australia), and Rowan will be starting childcare one day per week. I feel more than a little guilt about this, as for some reason I never thought that my own child(ren) would be accessing childcare. Hopefully this part sits better with me as time passes. I don't know if I'm ready to hand over an entire day with Rowan to someone else yet?

I guess that this is a small taste of what some parents must feel leaving their eldest child with me at the beginning of the Kindergarten year? Wow, talk about humbling... :/

I've been doing weekly Instagram posts on my personal blog for a while now and thought I'd share the last three weeks worth of adventures here too:

May 14-20

May 21-27

May 28 - June 3