A New Routine: Staying Home

November is the month of Thanksgiving and there is hardly anything we're more thankful for right now than the opportunity for Claudia to stay home with Daniel.

During the past 18 months, Daniel has morphed from a baby into a full blown toddler. It goes without saying, but time goes by so fast. In fact, the other day even Daniel made a comment to that affect. While trailing behind Claudia at the zoo, he told her in his child-like voice, "Mommy, I'm tired. My legs hurt. I'm old."

And while the little guy isn't quite as old as he may feel, we want to make sure Claudia is able to enjoy the few years he has before he goes to school by staying home with him.

So the morning rush of diaper changes, throwing on clothes and stuffing something, anything, into our mouths before jumping in the car to go to day care has been replaced with a much more sane routine. Daniel still wakes up early, but now he has a little more time to enjoy the morning.

Claudia is still trying to figure out their routine a little bit, but she's doing an amazing job. She's already found a few story-time activities at the local libraries and zoo. They've done crafts together and played with Play-do.

But the highlight of every day and the best part about being home with Daniel is easy for her to identify.

"It's his talking," she says while grinning. "He says some funny things every day."

I have an idea of what she means. When we went to the beach with him for a week in June, both of us were surprised by how much he could do and say. We felt a little guilty that we didn't know he could do so much. It made us realize how much we were missing because he was in day care and we were at work.

We had a great experience with Susan Gray School for the first year-and-a-half. The staff there was exceptional and Daniel made quite a few friends with kids and staff. If you're in the Nashville-area and looking for a day care, then they are worth considering.

But for us, it comes down to being content with what we have and making sure our little guy doesn't feel too old too soon.