Back to work soon and Net will start daycare...

I can't believe how fast the last three months have gone. Net has really jumped ahead in her development in the last month! The last few weeks have also been rough on her - she had her first cold since we brought her home in April, and we had to find a different daycare option at the last minute. I had a cold too, and the two of us had to hike around to different daycares in the area and check them out. We chose a good one nearby, though, and I think after the initial adjustment, she'll really enjoy being with other kids all day.

I've been trying to get her feeding and nap schedule to match the daycare's so she doesn't have so much adjusting to do when she starts. It's tough, though, since their naps start around noon and hers were starting around 9am. We're up to 11am start time now, so she should be somewhat used to noon by the time she starts napping there on Monday the 13th. Next week I will bring her in for an hour starting Monday, and increase it to 4 hours on Thursday. The following week she'll start full time. I know people go through this all the time, but it's really tough. She's too young to understand that we're not abandoning her there, so it's just a difficult thing she'll have to adjust to. Poor little bear! I do think that after the adjustment, she'll really enjoy having other kids to play with. Most of them are near her age or within 2 years of her age, so it will be a good small group for her :)

We had her one-year checkup on Monday (even though it was more like a 13-month checkup). She's gained a lot of weight and height and head circumference since her first checkup in April, and she's now at the 50th percentile for height and head size, and the 25th percentile for weight - that means she's a very average baby for her size in this country, which is fantastic when you consider how far off the bottom of the chart she was in April!

She is crawling very fast now, and wants to walk holding our hands all the time. She outgrew the walker and is now 'cruising' on the furniture (hanging onto it to move from place to place while standing). She is more expressive and exploratory all the time, and also is having some difficulty adjusting to all the changes - I think both developmentally and sensing the upcoming change to daycare. She's sometimes been crabby and distracted, and has diffculty taking an afternoon nap. She also got a fifth tooth yesterday, so the endless teething might have something to do with it. Overall, though, we're so lucky to have such a good-natured daughter! She's normally very happy and giggles and smiles a lot, and gives gooey kisses. I'm definitely going to miss her when I head back to work next week!