tough and exciting.

Jack will be 8 months on Friday, and since he was almost 4 months old, I've been lobbying for daycare.

Don't get me wrong, I love having him with me at work, but I know he's also a distraction (albeit, usually a welcome one) and sometimes a bit of a nuisance (the whining!). But, honestly, everyone at the paper loves having him there, crying or no crying ... whining or no whining.

**edited to add: nuisance is completely the wrong word ... but I couldn't think of a different one. He's not a nuisance, it's just that people feel the need to pick him or hold him when he's fussy and I know they have work they need to do. But, I also know that people love to pick him up; they don't feel obligated.

I called one daycare in our town in September and they had an opening, but J wasn't sold that we needed to send him then, so we didn't take it.

Fast forward 4 months and it's time. The monster is full-fledged crawling (we're talking room to room, here) and pulling up on everything! He needs interaction with other people and, most importantly, other kids. And he definitely needs more schooling than sitting in a exersaucer or walker and playing with the toys in front of him.

While I realize all of these things and it was my idea in the first place to send him to daycare, that doesn't make it any easier!

So, this morning, I packed up diapers, wipes, formula, rice cereal, baby food, spoon, bottle, extra clothes, his lovie ... everything! ... and sent him to his first day of daycare. Thankfully, the man is only going three days a week for now. I'm not sure I could handle every.single.day.

The saying is most definitely true: it's harder on the parent than it is on the child.

I know Jack will be just fine, and in the long run, this is what's best for him. But that doesn't make day one (or the following days) any easier.