Daycare – take two

It’s like deja vu.  It’s the hard part all over again. This morning we dropped Rory off at a brand new daycare in the Distillery District here in Toronto. I drove to work with the same gut wrench that I felt only a month ago when we did this the first time around.  I just feel so bad for our little guy. How many kids have to be transitioned to two daycares within two months? And possibly a third time if he goes back to the original daycare.  This daycare strike really is awful.

Ironically, before we found out that we got into the daycare in my husband’s building, the Distillery Daycare out of all the ones we looked at, was always our first choice.  It’s bright, safe, has awesome space and curriculum, and is extremely well run.   The only issue is... Right now the space Rory is in, is in the infant room until they can find space for him in the toddler room.  On paper, he is still an infant.  Children are considered infants until they are 18 months at most daycares, but just recently they transitioned all of their 15-16 month olds into their toddler room. So Rory’s room is filled with 9-12 month olds and baby toys. This is a significant difference to the toddler only program he was in at the other daycare.  He was the youngest there, and learning from all the older toddlers.  In the infant program at the Distillery, none of the babies are walking, none of them are talking...

Rory was running circles around these kids this morning.  Literally.

It broke my heart. And I also couldn’t help but feeling he was going to be totally bored and under-stimulated... Which means not learning. :(

I had a very healthy conversation with the program director about an hour ago, and she seemed to totally understand my concerns, she assured me that the staff will make sure Rory gets tons of one on one time, and that they will be bringing toddler toys from the half day room for him to play with.  She also walked me through some of the daily activities like water play/finger painting etc... And that made me feel better... And she is doing everything she can to move him to a toddler space.

Ugh...

Every time something like this happens, I really wonder why I went back to work at all?  I never thought I would say this, but after almost five months back at work, I truly would rather be at home.  Sure I would need to supplement my day/routine with things that stimulated me, maybe start my own business... But I actually do believe as a mom, I should and want to be with my child.

Time to move? I think I should have a diary instead of a blog.

 

Day One Daycare Transition– A Rough Start

Today was day one of my child's day care transition. For real this time. We all slept poorly. I am just so sad and nervous about sending Rory to daycare. Regardless of how awesome a daycare is/can be, in my heart of hearts I really just wish that one of us could be at home with him. In many ways I just don’t feel it’s right that kids, babies really,  have to go spend the day with strangers when they are so young.  What are we to do though?  Move to the country?

I wish. Don’t get me started.

Anyway, we all know that these transitions are way harder on parents then they are on kids. And I am like a text book mommy-wuss when it comes to stuff like this. Thank God for the most part, my husband Peter will be responsible for drop offs and that we have a kid who loves new people and new places. In fact, he got so excited to see so many toys and other kids to play with, that he tripped and fell and went head first into a toy chest after being in the daycare for less than 30 seconds. 

Amazing. Like I wasn’t emotional enough already.  He was fine/is fine, aside from his first real shiner. Mommy on the other hand almost called in sick to work. Head dives into furniture so early on a Monday very easily reduced me to tears.  Honestly, when does this overly emotional stuff end?  When I left he was pretty happy. Or, maybe he thought this car would get him outta there?

On a related but less dramatic note, my Mable's Labels order finally arrived. Thank you Canada Post.  You have to label like everything for daycare... At first I was slightly underwhelmed by the size of the package I got, but realized this weekend when I was labeling pretty much everything Rory owns... We got what we need.  And how cute are these things anyway? I almost want to order some for myself. 

Let's hope day 2 goes better.