The End...

...of summer is here, as is the beginning of the school year! I literally cannot believe that 7 & 1/2 months have gone by since our little EmJ arrived, and she's already had her first two days of daycare!! :-( Luckily this was only a 2-day work week for me, so we have one last looong summer weekend to enjoy together before getting into our regular work/daycare routine. We found an in-home daycare for Emmy to attend in Rochester, close to my work. It was highly recommended to me by a couple of co-workers who took their kids there, which is always reassuring to know people who have had good experiences there. The numbers are smaller than most centers, she will only have 12 kids max, but there's about 10 there each day right now, with 3 adults. Dan & I felt like that was a good number; it's smaller but there's still enough kids for Emmy to be social & play with! The first day drop off was pretty tough for me, Emmy was fine of course! It got a little bit easier the second day, and after I left I watched her for a minute from the window, and she was smiling & crawling towards the other kids, so that made me feel better! Miss Rita, the head daycare provider, has been really great and doesn't mind if I text or call her during the day to check in on Emmy, which I have definitely done! But only once a day :-) Emmy seems to have had pretty decent days for her first time in a daycare setting. Day one she didn't take a morning nap and only had a short afternoon nap, and only ate ok, but day two she took great morning and afternoon naps, and she ate much better!! I was glad that day two got better for her, but there was one small issue both days... Apparently any time they set Emmy down to play, or if they're sitting next to her on the floor playing & the adult leaves, she screams. Not cries, screams. Their guess, and mine, is that all the noise and activity of the other kids is a little overwhelming for her still and she feels better with an adult close by (or holding her!), so we're hopeful that as she becomes accustomed to the setting, the screaming will stop & she'll be able to do some independent playing. We have next Monday off for Labor Day, so it's a 4-day work week, and hopefully the easing into the routine slowly will be beneficial for her (and me!)!

The before & after of Emmy's first day of "school"!

In other Emmy news, she's crawling all over, and getting faster each day! Crawling has brought her some new freedom, and she now chooses her toys right out of the toy box, versus choosing from the ones I put out for her! So the toy box in the living room is now on it's side, not only for her to choose from, but so she doesn't try to pull herself up to stand on it & pull it over!! Emmy thinks she's bigger & stronger than she really is (even though she really is a strong peanut!) and she now wants to pull herself up to stand on any & every thing!! She's also learning how to fall gracefully, which is nerve wrecking for me to watch!!

Peek a boo...

...I see you!!

Other than daycare starting, we've just been enjoying the close of our summer. We took part in the Woodward Dream Cruise festivities (madness) by having some family & friends over for a BBQ. We've enjoyed getting together with the families from our Beaumont parenting group as well! Dan & I also managed to sneak in two concerts and a couple date nights in before summer officially draws to a close!

Date night!