Daycare Graduation

Well, July 3 was Eddie's last day at Double Decker Day School. It was called Kidaro Playcare when he started, back in January 2010 at the tender age of 4.5 months. 

Remember the agony I went through back then?  Hiring a nanny, her quitting, us scrambling to find the right daycare for him, my anxiety about balancing single motherhood/student life, AND babysitting other babies to balance the budget?  HOLY CRAP that was an insane time.  And then...we found Cassie and everything worked out just fine.  She helped me and Dave navigate single parenthood strategies and became a good friend to us and a second mother to Eddie.

Eddie had his first of many sleepovers at her house. She got to see him develop from a helpless baby to a sitter, crawler, walker, runner, talker, potty trainer, narrator, triker, biker. We all love her.

Eddie and Daddy in January 2010.

She planned a pizza party for him that day and we brought frozen yogurt pops (Gogurts) and some Hello Kitty popsicles to share during the afternoon heat.  Miss Amanda said she let Eddie choose some of the activities in the afternoon, no doubt it had something to do with finding "treasures" (rocks and sequins). I'll donate a gift certificate to an online art supply store as our parting gift to the school.

Eddie grinning when we found allllllllllll the treasures at the bottom of his cubby, things he's collected diligently over the last couple of years.  Sequins, rocks, sticks, trash.

Eddie goofing around with Miss Amanda.

Apparently, no one slept much that day during nap time because there was just too much excitement for Eddie's last day honors. When I picked him up, he was shirtless and exhausted.  He cleaned out his cubby and then we went inside to have a popsicle with Cassie and Leila...and of course I got to hold baby Kiera.

Cassie, Leila, Eddie, and Amanda

Leila was looking down at the floor where her baby sister was lying.

Mmmm pops while visiting with Cassie.

My heart aches that we had to leave Cassie's care and Davis in general. But it was time for us to move on and for Eddie to start school preparations. I'm sure we'll encounter some regression (or even aggression) when the reality of a new permanent daycare sets in. Wish us luck with this transition!

Eddie in June 2013.

On Monday, July 8 Eddie started attending the day care up in Point Arena, where he's gone a few times already when we were up there for week-long visits. Dave attended the same daycare 20-something years ago and had the same head teacher, too. Then in the fall, Eddie will be a preschooler at Arena Elementary and he'll go to daycare in the afternoons.