Astrid is now in her 3rd daycare in less than a year. She’s now spending her days at the Creekside Child Development Centre. It’s our dream daycare, so hopefully she’ll be there until she starts school in 4 years. It’s a fabulously run group daycare (think Club Med for little kids) conveniently located across the street from where we live. Like most well run daycares in Vancouver, they have a really long waiting list. We added Astrid to the list before she was even born. Since most new spots go to siblings of existing kids, we’re lucky we got in.

It’s an awesome facility and the teachers are excellent. It’s well structured but also flexible to the kids’ needs. They have a schedule that includes walks outside, circle time, meals and snacks. They are much more rigid about food and regulations than our previous daycares – we’ve gotten lots of feedback on the food we pack for Astrid – grapes have to be quartered, not just halved, no dried fruit, and sunbutter sandwiches must be clearly labelled so there’s no worry about nuts. The check-in procedure every morning includes hand washing, shoe changing, sign-in sheets, and food and diapers placed into very clearly labelled bins. We’ve been pleasantly surprised that they have no problem using cloth diapers and feeding Astrid the vegan food we provide.

For the first two weeks there were tears during drop-off and pick-up, but otherwise she transitioned very smoothly with no problems napping, eating, or playing with the other kids.

New daycare means new germs. Astrid has been sick with colds for the past 2 weeks. Her cold has moved to her chest and she often has a rasping cough at night that sometimes keeps her up. Luckily no fever. We’ve been treating her cold with steamy baths, a humidifier while she sleeps, warm water with honey, and herbal cough medicine before bed. Hopefully she gets better soon because we’re flying to Mexico in 2 weeks.

A few weeks ago, Astrid ended up in the hospital. She was playing at the dining room table and dancing on a chair like she often does. They’re heavy chairs, but she managed to rock it far enough that it tipped over. She was crying for a while and couldn’t put any weight on her right foot. After talking to the nurses hotline, we took her to the children’s hospital. By the time we went through triage, Astrid was already in a better mood and was limping around the waiting area and exploring. When a nurse came by to check her out, she said her foot seemed fine and they wouldn’t do an x-ray but we could wait another 2-3 hours if we wanted to see a doctor. We figured sleep would be more helpful, so we went home. She had a slight limp that lasted for a week and we ended up taking her to our family doctor, but he quickly dismissed us letting us know that if anything was wrong she wouldn’t be putting any weight on the foot. Classic first child over-reaction on our part.

Last Saturday, I was curious if Astrid was getting enough nutrients. She’s always been slightly above average for weight and height and she’s never shown any sign of a nutritional deficiency, but I thought it would be interesting to track all of the food she ate and compare it to the recommended diet. If I was more concerned, I would have tracked it for a full week and averaged it, but tracking a single day was enough work. In one day there were 24 foods to track and calculate nutritional information for. Here’s a summary of my big spreadsheet:

The calcium value was little low, but otherwise her diet was pretty good, and completely vegan. What she eats varies from day to day, but she consistently has breast milk twice a day and 250 ml of smoothie. The smoothie is perfect for cramming in nutrients. I like to add kale, Vega One protein powder, omega oils, and hemp seeds to ensure she’s getting lots of healthy fat, protein, and vitamins. Peanut butter and sunbutter are the other nutrient dense foods she often eats.

Astrid has now learned the concept of ownership and has become very forceful about enforcing it. In the morning, she loves to bring Emily and I our shoes, jackets, and cellphones. It’s cute and almost helpful. But she gets very upset if anyone other than the owner tries to take something. I think this is the start of her “that’s mine” phase.

More pictures.