This is something we have recently learned. We’ve been taking Ryder to day care since Caitlin went back to work in January. He went for a week and there were no problems other than, he told us with his gorgeous eyes, that he missed us terribly. Also, he told us with crying. The report cards he received from day care were stellar. We learned that he exhibits solid, if not somewhat advanced motor skills. We just thought he liked standing, and was fond of grabbing things. We were thrilled, and rethought our decision to gamble on not saving for college.

The next week, Ryder again attended day care – he goes on Wednesday, Thursdays, and Fridays – but he was sent home after running a “fever.” His an temperature was about 100.1, according the staff – but I brought him home, per their request. We hung out. He seemed mildly out of it, but not what you’d normally describe an adult as sick. On the following Sunday, visiting Grandma Kitty, Caitlin and I all came down with a nasty stomach virus within hours of each other. It knocked us out for a few days, and was highly unpleasant. Being a parent, I can strongly recommend against getting the flu. Ryder seemed to be fine during this period. The following week, he got progressively sicker, however, and we kept him home from the day care as he was wracked with coughing spasms and snot. It was a sad sight to behold. The toddler with the smoker’s cough moaning “Mommy,” in retrospect should’ve been our first clue that day care is indeed a hot zone. While one might imagine that you’d receive sympathy for your child being sick, and all that comes with that, most people we met in the sick period only said, as if they’d been the first to coin the phrase, “Welcome to day care.” The phrase seemed to us, neither clever, nor helpful. Luckily, we were not friends with any of those people, because we would’ve been forced to unceremoniously drop them. From everything we’re guessing, we have more sickness to look forward to in the future, as a Ryder’s presence in day care is a necessity. Ready or not…here we come.