June 4. Day 1. First day of daycare. The prestigious (-ly named) Vanguard Academy. I can’t say I’ve been waiting for this day since February 2011; but we have been on the waiting list since February 2011. Dropping him off was a breeze. I checked in, walked down the hall, opened the door. He saw a ball and I said “see you later”. That’s it. And, then, all day long I wondered what he was up to; and made sure everyone at work knew that I just dropped him off at daycare. for. the. first. time. ever. They all pretended to care; thank you.

I left work at 10 after 5; a respectable time until you factor in the weather phenomena: rain. Due to the rain, and several instances of going nowhere as the traffic light turned from red to green to red… I didn’t get there until exactly 6p. I may have called my mom and had a minor meltdown. He was the last one in there. I was that mom.

To top it off, he was the “added” kid as I – really should say we here, shouldn’t I? – didn’t turn in the paperwork beforehand. Wouldn’t be that big of a deal except when I looked at his report sheet, it reported that Jake had a good day. And his cubby hole had Jake Hauer on it. Ack, I just thought she had a thick southern accent, so didn’t correct her. Poor kid.

Best comment: “I gave him his food, turned around and when I turned back it was gone”. This is what was on the menu: bagel & cream cheese, chicken nuggets, carrots, rice, cheese & crackers — let’s be honest, I don’t think he has had that many carbs and so few veggies in his life. Of course he loved it.

Day 2. Dropped him off and let them know about “one minor detail” — his name is Jack, not Jake. The report card: Ben ate all of his hamburger and tater tots was happy and chatty. Ben also needs to bring in a picture of his family. I think I’m more upset about his lunch than about the name mix-up.

Day 3. I brought a picture of “Ben” and his family. And turned in yet another form with Again, details: his name is Jack. Report card: Jack was happy and chatty. Yay JACK! Jack ate all of his chili. I would be inclined to believe them if seemingly half of the chili wasn’t on his (not-any-longer) white shirt. Lesson #325 for the week.

Day 5. Blankets and crib sheets returned. Since this newbie daycare mom didn’t label any of his items prior to his first day of school, yep, they all had ‘Jake’ labeled on them in black sharpie. Awesome.

So blessed to have a great place to take him, sure he sheds tears when I leave him; but thinking he’s doing that to make me feel better considering the report card is always the same: Jack was happy. Jack was chatty. Jack ate ALL of his food. And then some more.

Thank you Miss Tatianna and Miss Ashley.