Hudson's 1st day of school!

It's been almost 9 months that me and my little monkey man have been playing the days away. Unfortunately, I have a dissertation that doesn't want to write itself, so that means I have to get back to the grindstone. Since Hudson isn't the best co-author (he's not too interested in disproportionate minority confinement of juveniles in Baltimore County), it was time to start daycare. I have stressed and agonized over this decision for months. Do we use a daycare or nanny/babysitter (what's the difference, by the way?)? When should we start to send him? How will we pay for this? The list of anxieties goes on and on.

Hudson and Daddy before school

I'll spare you the nitty gritty details on how we came to this decision, but we chose a daycare center right down the street from our house (who better to care for our kid than someone in The Point?!?). August 4th was his start date. I was excited for him because I thought he might enjoy playing with the other children, especially now that he's mobile. But I was extremely concerned for a few reasons. 1. He won't drink milk from a bottle. 2. He only falls asleep when I nurse him or when someone walks him around. and 3. I didn't want him to think I abandoned him.

Hudson and Mommy before school

Ryan and I both took him to the daycare at 8:30a. We talked with his teachers until 9a. Hudson was smiling, looking around, and even reached for his teacher. That made leaving much easier (and the fact that I was only leaving him for a few hours). I went to school and felt invigorated to get back into the swing of things. I called to check on Hudson at 11:30a and they said he was sleeping.

I went to pick him up at 1p. I sped there because I couldn't wait to see him! As I was putting shoe covers on my shoes before going into his room, I could hear him crying. Not sobbing, but just crying which was okay. I was walking into his room when one of his teachers was walking out. The first thing out of her mouth was "Oh Lordy" - not exactly the greeting I was hoping for. She proceeded to tell me that it's obvious that he's used to one-on-one attention and would cry when she walked away (the other teacher in the room was just sitting on a chair while he was on the ground crying). I sat down and he crawled to me crying, but started to smile once he got to me. Then he seemed fine. The teacher also asked me how he played with other kids at playgroup since he kept taking the other children's toys. So, in the first 2 minutes of arriving, she has told me that my son is needy and a bully. I was less than thrilled with her feedback.

Thankfully, Hudson seemed to be fine which makes taking him tomorrow bearable.

Hudson smiling in his new classroom