I think it’s pretty obvious we are very good at doing way too much with our limited spare time.
Once again, this weekend has turned into another crazy weekend as we are going away. It wasn’t really in our plans, but it sort of just made sense in the end.
I have to work Saturday for a public meeting that I’m running (yuck, I never work on weekends) and it happens to be in close proximity to some friends. And those friends happen to be having a birthday party for their kid on Sunday. So, rather then me driving 7 hour round trip by myself on Saturday and then driving another 7 hour round trip on Sunday as a family, we’ve decided to just make a weekend out of it – doing part half of the driving Friday and half the driving Sunday. And we plan to have some fun while we are at it! (Also, no nees to worry, the roads are nothing like they were earlier this week – as they are now clear and safe and expected to be throughout the weekend).
But, after this weekend, we are not doing anything for the foreseeable future. In fact, I think we have about a month of no weekend plans! And, we are excited by the thought of multiple non-committed weekends in a row!
We have been doing way too much for months now, and I think we hit our limit during our Christmas/New Years crazy. So we have a new rule – we are simply going to stop doing so much.
Easier said then done, right?
Well, we’ve decided to be black and white about it.
1 weekend of significant activity (i.e. family/friends staying at our house or us going away for family/friends commitments) = 2 weekends off.
I’m not saying the off weekends mean we are just going to sit at home all day, realistically that’s probably not going to happen because I will get way too board and Baby MPB seems to do better during the day when he has an outing. So, on our off weekends we will still do stuff as a family around home – we may go to the zoo, or the grocery store, or enjoy a baby play date with local friends, or even go to the local park (if it ever gets above -22F). So, what I really mean is that our off weekends are going to be about creating unscheduled, downtime as a family.
And, maybe if I’m lucky this new strategy will also help my immune system recover and maybe even gain some strength so I’m not sick every other week!
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We are finally starting to seriously look into daycares for Baby MPB. We still have our temporary nanny, but we know we could lose her any day as she is actively looking for work in her chosen profession. And, while having a nanny giving full time attention on Baby MPB has it’s benefits (i.e. baby MPB is at home so we can snuggle and check in on him at any moment, he gets constant attention, we know what he’s eating, etc.) we do think it is getting closer to the point where we’d like him in daycare.
Our main driving force behind this is that we think Baby MPB would benefit from being around other children on a regular basis. I think there is something to be said about being socialized with other children. Watching him over the holiday’s it was very evident that he absolutely loved the action and energy of his cousins and friends. And, the reality is right now he is an only child and that’s not about to change anytime soon, so the best way to get him exposed to other children on a regular basis, is to look into daycares.
As a quick aside, we would consider a day-home (a maximum of 6 kids are cared for within a private residence) but we cannot find any government approved ones in close proximity to our house. But, we have a lot of daycare options around us, so daycare it is.
I wont lie, I love having him at home while we are working. I joke that I’d be happy to keep him at home forever, but I know this really isn’t true! But, we do think for his overall development we should consider transitioning him to a more kid-centric setting somewhere between 12-18 months. And, since we may lose the temporary nanny at any time, we really should at least have our ducks in a row and have a daycare selected sooner rather then later. We are relieved that we should be able to get a spot for him in our preferred centre without any wait, thanks to the poor state of the economy where we live.
Also, I have a new found concern about daycare – Baby MPB picking up bad germs and bringing them home. This honestly has more to do with me then him – so far he’s been very resilient whenever he’s been sick, and I do think he’ll be fine. However, it’s become quite clear that I am not resilient as I seem to have essentially no natural immunity to any sort of illness. Also, as both Mr. MPB and I are both self-employed if Baby MPB cannot go to daycare because he has a cold that means one of us cannot work which will be a challenge since neither of us have any sort of company support to accommodate sick days. So, I’m curious how often are daycare kids (and parents) sick? Does anyone happen to know how many days a month the average daycare kid misses because of illness?
Regardless of my not so healthy half-joking desire to keep Baby MPB home with me for the rest of my lives and what I think are reasonable fears of illness, we have decided to go check out 4 different daycare centres that are pretty close to our house. I’m really hoping I don’t turn into a slightly crazy over-protective mom and hate them all for some silly reason!
Does anyone have any advice for what to watch for at each daycare? And, what questions should we ask when we tour them? And should Baby MPB tour them with us?
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