100 Words Per Mile: Does My Three-Month-Old Hate Me?

We pick a daycare and my wife fills me with winks.

January 13, 2022
9.00 miles
1:15:52

Good news: my wife and I found a daycare she is comfortable with! We’d actually toured it once before, but felt it was a bit out of the way at the time. But they graciously gave us another tour, miraculously had an opening for next month, and did the most important thing: impressed upon my wife the feeling she’s been searching for.

Admittedly, I left with that same feeling, too.

Our baby is starting to move with real intention. The rolls are becoming more frequent. She reaches for things she wants. I mean… she wants. This might be why the visit with our new daycare was so impactful. She’s becoming more and more of a unique individual. We’re just now getting to know her. It’s making every experience all the more precious.

I don’t want to be the kind of parent that puts too much stock in the small things­—such as how a three-month old reacts to a stranger—but it did matter to us that she seemed to smile and enjoy herself in the hallway outside her future classroom.

We weren’t allowed to enter the classroom yet due to COVID-19 restrictions, and every staff member was wearing a mask, which was a little bit deflating. My wife especially wants a teacher who’s going to give our girl the cheer and warmth she receives at home. If our daughter can’t see these teachers’ smiles, will there be consequences? I know this will be the standard for the foreseeable future, but I can’t help but project my own imagined experience, and think about what it might feel like for all these masked strangers to pick you up at any given moment. It must be alarming, to know your parents have noses and teeth, but your caretakers do not.