We've officially adapted

Baby K on her first full day of creche- it also happened to be a game day for TCU

I am very happy to report that Baby K has made a smooth transition into nursery school. It's called creche here, and I have a hard time not calling it that since no one here is familiar with the terms nursery school or day care. I've mentioned before that Baby K has had a regular babysitter for the time I had been attending French school. This fall the babysitter started university, so she was no longer an option for us. Thankfully this happened right around the time Baby K was nearly 18-months old, the golden age for when you can finally enroll your child in a private creche and get off the public waiting list.

After moving to Montreux I quickly realized how much smaller it was than Basel. Before Baby K had come along, I visited five or six nursery schools in Basel, all of which had space for her for when she would be around six months old. When we moved to Montreux, it was a completely different story. I was informed that the commune (city) controlled the garderies (day care, starting at four-ish months) and you had to get on a list to get into one. The problem for us was that there are only a couple in Montreux, and we were at the bottom of the list due to only one parent working (and rightly so). So, a babysitter it was.

But now we've reached the age when it feels like many more doors open for your child. I have no idea if this is the case in the US, but it seems like it is here in Switzerland. For some reason when your child hits 18-months here, many other activities open up to them. I'm guessing it's because they are now officially in the toddler stage and are much more interactive? Not sure, but it's been good for us this month.

I toured a couple of creches before coming to the US in July, and reserved our spot at one that is about a 10-minute walk from our house. We chose a creche associated with a bilingual school, as hopefully this will be the case for Baby K. The creche part of the school is purely French speaking though, so she's immersed all day, two days per week. The school did not feel this would be detrimental to her English development since it's all English, all the time at home.

When starting creche here, each child and parent goes through an adaptation period to help the child adapt and get used to being at creche and away from their parent. Adaptation went like this for us:

• Monday: 30-minutes at creche, Baby K and I together
• Tuesday: 30-minutes Baby K by herself (from now on)
• Wednesday: One hour
• Thursday: Two hours, including snack time
• Monday: Three hours, including lunch
• Tuesday: Five hours, including naptime
• Thursday: Full day, pick up at 4pm

Now we're pretty much settled into the regular full day. There were other kids going through adaptation at the same time, and I swear the kids were crying every time I was there. Whereas, each time we arrived for some time at creche, Baby K pretty just waved and said see you later.

Each day when I pick her up, I get a report on what they've been up to that day, which usually includes a walk by the lake together, among other things. Right now she's still working on learning how to get a good nap at creche, as sleeping on a mat on the floor with other kids is new for her. They typically report that she is a bit fussy after naptime, but the other day the teacher giving me the report said she felt that this was quite normal when they were just starting, which made me feel better. Of course, the report is in French, which is also great practice for me.

For those of you who are wondering, I have no idea how a parent who works does the adaptation period. My guess would be that they either take off work, or a nanny/babysitter/grandparent takes and picks them up. Switzerland is not designed for two working parents, but that's a whole different post.

One other bonus...the school provides all of her meals while she's there, lunch and snack. I'm not sure why I like this so much, but maybe because I know she's getting a healthy hot meal for lunch, and I didn't have to make it! This is the norm here for all schools. I think I've seen one too many posts on how to change up your kid's boring school lunch, that makes it sound so tedious.

So there you have it. We've successfully gone through adaptation and I now have two afternoons free and am continuing French classes. Now you also know why I've managed to post three times this week :) Hope to see you again soon!