A day out

Today Naomi started going to a part-day day care. It's a mother's day out/children's day out program at a church. It's a temporary solution since we have been unable to find full time, quality and affordable day care. We have been looking for 4 months now. By the way, Naomi turned 7 months old last week. So as far as I can tell her first day went well. She did seem to be sneezing a bit more and have red, puffy eyes once she got home. But the weather has been crazy, so perhaps it's allergies. The day care also doesn't use hypoallergenic laundry detergent, so we are going to be providing our own crib sheet.

Finding a day care is a little nerve wracking. I called once in the middle of the day and was somewhat nervous about leaving her, but she didn't cry or even seem to notice we were gone. She just got down in the thick of things with the other babies and found some toys to play with. As long as I'm busy at work (which I always am) I don't have much time to worry about if she is okay or all the things that could go wrong and did I remember to tell them this or that. I even typed up an informational sheet on Naomi because frequently she seems to be "changing hands" and being watched by a variety of people since we don't have a permanent child care provider (outside of ourselves of course.)

Tomorrow I'm going to look at another day care that said they have a space (plus they are within our price range and it's not far from my job.) I'm not sure if I'll like it. I had passed it several times, but was skeptical about calling. It looks more like a house than a center, though it is categorized as the latter, and if you have talked to me about day cares you know I'm skeptical about home child care providers. From my news readings, they are where a lot of the "shady" business happens. But who knows? Maybe it will be an answer to prayers. I really like 2 or 3 of the others, but they don't have any openings until later in the year.

What's new? This past week Naomi has been getting better at rolling from her back to her stomach. She could already roll the other way, from her stomach to her back. So she has become a terror when you try to change her diaper, flipping this way and that with her little dirty tush in the air.

She's still not crawling, yet. But she seems so eager to learn and is always up on her knees attempting to lunge forward. She hasn't quite figured it all out, though, how to make those arms and knees coordinate one after the other.

She seems to have really taken to solid foods. She gets so excited and will grab the spoon and the container of food from you and gets upset if you aren't feeding her fast enough or the bowl gets empty. We have gone through all the cereals and vegetables with only one problem with a certain type of cereal. Next week we will be starting fruits and then, maybe, some juices.

Not sleeping through the night still. But last week she went 3-4, sleeping through the night three days and not on four. But she's been going to bed earlier, so I think that's good.

She visited a dermatologist about her eczema. I'm not sure that he told me much I didn't already know, which is why I didn't want to go in the first place. He told us it was okay to bathe her daily as opposed to every couple of days, which is apparently "old school advice" as he said. We just need to moisturize her skin right afterward, which we were. It's really been doing a lot better, just not perfect. The other new thing he did was give us a new prescription topical cream ... that costs $90 after insurance (before: $300). So yeah, I'm calling him back to see if there's anything else we can try first or if he feels that is the only thing that will work.

I really have to write here more often, so all these thoughts don't build up. But I can honestly say I don't have much time. Go figure.