Homeschool Co-op on Thursday Mornings

Today was our second week of Classical Conversations, the homeschool co-op that we've joined for the '08-'09 school year. We'll be meeting every Thursday for 12 weeks in the fall and 12 weeks in the spring.

I have been working to get Ollie comfortable with milk from a bottle so that he'd be more comfortable being with new people in the nursery. (Nursery care is provided at Classical Conversations for younger siblings of students.)

Well, last week was kind of a rough start.

What makes it difficult is that the co-op meets during Ollie's morning nap. He typically goes down for his first nap at around 8:30am. We have to get in the car at 8:30 to be at Classical by 9:00, when it starts. Then, we are in class until 12:00, which is followed by lunch, and then playtime on the playground. So we get home at about 2:00pm, which is a pretty long day for a 10-month old!!

So anyway, as I was saying, last week could have gone better. I tried nursing and putting Ollie down in a Pack-and-Play but he wasn't having that. He cried for a while and I just didn't feel good leaving him like that in a strange place. Then I thought, "Skip the nap, I'll just let him play in the nursery with the other little kids." But when I left the room, he would cry and cry because he was so tired.

Long story short, I ended up slinging him for the whole five hours. Whew!

So, yeah, I was kinda anxious to see how this week would go. I was starting to think, "I can't do this co-op all year with a 22-pound baby strapped to my chest!" And, miraculously, today went very well. I nursed him and put him in the Pack-and-Play and HE SLEPT! Not as long as he would have at home, but, that little cat nap took the edge of his tiredness to the point that he was able to hang in with the nursery workers for the rest of the time. And they said that having a bottle to give him also helped.

So, this will be a good thing. Over the course of this year, he'll begin to stretch himself and his comfort level with other people. He's never had any real "separation anxiety" or anything (though, I guess that could happen later), but he also hasn't really been separated from me!