Surviving Day Care

Ace went to day care for the first time this week. He was a champ about it the first day and wandered off from me happily, while I put his food in the fridge and signed him in. I waved goodbye, but he could have cared less. I drove to Target feeling kind of numb and, right when I was pulling into the parking lot, a Springsteen song came on. It wasn't even one of his sappier ones, but I felt myself starting to cry. Instead, I started to laugh at myself and then spent the next hour or so shopping for random things and feeling giddy with freedom. When I arrived to pick him up, after three and a half blissful hours of alone time, he was wandering around happily. I put him in the car and he fell asleep before we got home.
Today, as I had been warned, Ace knew what was going to happen and started getting a little nervous the moment we entered the day care. This time while I was putting his food away, he started to cry. The "teacher" picked him up and said, "ok, say goodbye to Mommy," in a kind way, but I wanted to hold him, so she handed him over. I realized that he was not going to stop crying, so I gave him a hug and put him down. Another teacher picked him up and I waved goodbye and left. I felt a little sad about it, but I knew he would be fine.
When it was time to pick him up, the teacher said that he had needed a little extra attention, but he soon was playing happily on his own. I think I may have a sensitive little guy, since he's an only child and has been with me for almost fifteen moths. I think the day care setting will be good for him and his development.
Now that he has survived his first week, I am going to look into using the time off from him to work out. I have to check out the pool schedule and a few exercise classes that look interesting.