Five at Foucart St: First day at school :(

Miles started daycare today. It's not something I've been looking forward to -- he's still so little and can't yet crawl away to escape the bigger kids, but if we didn't accept a place when it became available, we could be waiting months for another opportunity. It also means that it's not long now until I also return to work, which I'm looking forward to for many reasons but dreading because it means I have to leave my boy.

We're lucky that I still have quite a few weeks before I plan to go back to work, which means easing Miles slowly into his new routine and him only spending a couple of hours each day at the centre. This week, we went and met the carers, Miles had lunch with his new little friends, and played with lots of toys. I sat in the background observing for the first two days, and left him for a couple of hours on the third to run a few errands. He seemed to do really well, except for the fact that he apparently cried for the last 20 minutes on the day I left him -- I found him having a cuddle on the lap of one of the carers, hugging Howie (his teddy bear) and sobbing. It broke my heart, but he didn't take long to cheer up and was laughing again in no time. I'm sure it'll get easier.

Verdict on the first 3 days? The carers all seem really nice, Miles had fun playing with lots of new toys, meals are fresh and healthy, and there are lots of other babies a similar age for him to learn and play with. Doesn't change the fact that I'm feeling incredibly guilty that I want to go back to work and leave him with someone else.

Miles must have sensed my mood when I tried to get a few snaps of him with his new schoolbag. Either that, or he was too distracted by our cleaners, who were at the house and racing around with the vacuum...much more exciting to watch than your sentimental mum wielding a camera!

Looking very serious with Howie and my new Fernando the Bear bag