Let the Daycare Commence!

He loves to hug. Here he is hugging a doll that Nana got him.

Like I said last Friday, Stan B is going back to daycare part time. I'm nervous but excited. I think it will be a little hard on the Bear at first as he has become a bit clingy with Mama since he's been at home with me for the the past 4 months but I know he will adjust. I've started talking to him about it several weeks ago. We've gone to the center a couple of times and he always wants to stay. We talked about it more in depth last week. Our conversation went something like this,

"You will be going to daycare next week. Three days a week I will take you there and you will get to play inside and outside with other kids your age."
He responded, "Mama come?"
"I will take you there and then I will leave you but I will come back later in the day to pick you up." "Play?"
"Yes, play, with other kids."
"Mama come?" "No. But I will drop you off and pick you up later in the day, after nap time."
"My daycare?"
"Yes, your daycare and I think you will really like it."
"Okay."

Hugging Papa goodbye before he goes to work.

So, I hope it goes well. I hope he likes it (I think he will.) I love it so far...more than the previous two that we had in NC. This is their vision statement:

There is a pure essence within each individual. This essence is their passion and pure energy; it is unique to them. To connect with this pure essence individuals must align in mind, body, spirit and energy. Once aligned, the individual has the potential to live a life of their dreams. In this dynamic and ever changing world finding one's pure essence may seem impossible; yet to nurture this passion and illicit meaningful growth toward full potential is a systematic process -one that can be taught and also lived. The amount of work it takes to achieve pure essence living depends on the individual, his or her life circumstances and the deeply held beliefs they have about themselves and the world around them. The process of shifting from experiencing one's current life to experiencing the life of their dreams is a journey, one that must be taken on the deepest individual level before its fruition may be fulfilled. At (name of daycare*) we believe that within each individual is the burning desire to walk down a path of ultimate intrinsic and extrinsic success, one of embodied fulfillment. Furthermore we believe that the pure essence of (name of daycare) is to partner with individuals and become the catalyst, educator, facilitator, mentor and support system necessary to help every individual make this shift, and in so doing shift the human experience to a deeply meaningful and nurturing one. 

I feel like I should probably go to this daycare. Luckily she also offers parents life coaching (she called it something different but I can't remember). I will definitely take advantage of this.

Taking a break on our walk and giving his polar bear a hug.

Not only will I get to explore my new path(s) with substitute teaching but Stan B will get to forge new friendships at daycare and not become a complete Mama's boy. We do go to the park daily and we play with kids there (many are regulars too). It's fun to watch him play with other kids and I can tell he really wants to play with others. There are some children that he takes to immediately and will even go up to them and hug them. Some kids he will want to hug when it's time to go home! It's cute but it is also a teaching moment about boundaries. I try to observe how the other child reacts and it is very clear one way or the other but even if the other child seems o.k. I say to them, "If you don't want him to hug you just tell him no thank you." and I also say to the Bear, "Some people don't like being hugged so you may have to ask first." or "Remember people's boundaries - it doesn't look like he/she wants to be hugged, it's very sweet of you though." Anyways, I'm excited for him to have some consistency with playmates.

I will definitely post an update on daycare.

Hugging a tree...barefoot. Dang hippy.

*I didn't want to use the name of the daycare because of privacy reasons. If you are curious I can send you the info via a private message. I also will be changing the Bear's name to something different on every one of these blog posts...It'll take me a while.

Here is a fun video of Mike and the cub:
stroller ride from erin kawamata on Vimeo.