The next phase

Monday saw a big landmark for our little family as we took Jake for his first settling in day at his daycare. My wife has carefully researched and visited dozens of local nurseries and after much deliberation we chose Future Prospects House as a good combination between location in terms of getting to work, quality of staff and resources and price. They offer a term time only contract which saves us a good chunk of money each month and means that I get Jake all to myself whilst Kelsey goes to work during the holidays.

The day held a specific significance for us for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's the first time that we have left Jake with someone we didn't know. Even for the half an hour that we were away for, it's quite a nervous experience leaving your son with someone who doesn't know him and hasn't met him before. However, you quickly learn to trust the fact that these people are well qualified and have years of experience in this field.

The second reason is that up until this point, the idea of my wife returning to work and Jake starting day care has seemed like a long time away, but in reality is a little over a week in the future. I'm not sure that Kelsey is ready to leave the semi-idyllic lifestyle that she leads at the moment, and definitely not to return to her crazy place of work. The visit on Monday came as a bit of a shock and a realisation that all of our carefully constructed routines and timings will go out of the window to be replaced by a new set.

This, of course, will be the pattern of our lives over the next 20 years as Jake (and future little brother/sister) starts kindergarten, then school, then sports clubs, then a social life beyond us and so on. I feel that we're adaptable enough as a family to cope just fine, but it's much more of a marker of the end of the first big chapter of Jake's life and the start of the next adventure than any date or birthday could be.