Goin' to School...and coming home

After much research, a few interviews and 2 daycare visits, we found what I believe is the next best thing to staying at home with mommy....for now.
Since I started "working" as a contractor for Campus Door, I need a few hours a day to work without interruption each day.
I chose KinderCare. It is exactly 6 minutes from our house.
Audrey has really bloomed there in her first week.
She is in a class with 4 other babies, sometimes more.
Her teacher's name is Miss Beth and the helper iS Drenda Kate.
When I pick her up each day, it seems that she has really enjoyed herself.
Yesterday, she painted 4 leaf clovers with her hands and feet.
Beth had to give her a bath because Audrey got a little too crazy with the paint.
When I arrived, they had pictures for me to enjoy. Seems so small perhaps, but those pictures, that gesture matters.
It matters to me that I get a note everyday that says what Audrey did, how long she napped, if she pooped. It is the next best thing to being there.

And, at 2 pm, when it is time to pick her up, the rest of my day is all hers.
Today, we went right to the park. We swang on the swings. We made a loop around the fields and enjoyed the sunshine. Then, we came home and took a tour of the neighborhood in the new wagon with Molli in tow.
The nights seem to go fast. By 7 pm, Audrey is ready for a bath and to unwind.

You know; when we walk, I take in the shadows of her little hands swinging around as I push her in her stroller. I study the smiles that she gives when she realizes that I am watching her from across the room, I trace her face with my finger while she sleeps.

When my mom says that Audrey doesn't look like Jim and that she looks like me, I wonder if it is because she is reminded of the outline of my face when she traces my little girls cheeks as she falls fast asleep.

You really never get to go back and do it again.