Since Logan was 5 months old, he had been going to a home care provider sponsored by Monday Morning. We had a wonderful experience. He was one of five kids in the house (ages newborn - 3 years old) and lovingly cared for by a woman named Bina. She gave him his own room to sleep in, cooked all of his meals (once he was off BM/formula/purees) and received a lot of personal attention. He was comfortable being around babies and older kids. The older kids helped out a lot and "cared" for the babies (sort of Montessori-like). But this comfy atmosphere ended last week when we put him in commercial day care. My primary reason for changing care providers was to prepare for my maternity leave. Bina's house is close to my office, which is 45 min. from my house, and there was no way I was going to shuttle him back and forth that distance while on maternity leave, so I needed to find something closer to home. My second reason for changing it up was because I thought he was ready for a more social/structured type of experience.
Preparing for his first day was like preparing for a first day of school-- a ton of forms, labelling EVERYTHING, contemplating what to make for his snacks/lunch, and loads of anxiety! (parental anxiety, not Logan). The night before his first day, my husband and I checked on Logan as he slept like we always do. As I watched him sleep so peacefully, I thought to myself Logan, rest well, my love! Tomorrow's a big day of change... Then, we prayed for him...and I cried. Yup, tears of anxiety and apprehension. He'll be OK, right?? I asked my husband. Of course, he will be! It'll just take some time...he will have to get used to change. This wasn't even real school yet, and I was already crying! I was just so anxious on his behalf. We did a few visits to the school so he could familiarize himself with the rooms and teachers, but he really had no idea what was going to happen.
The morning drop-off was...quick. He was eating his breakfast at the table when I left, and there were no tears...for the first 2 minutes. I was doing security finger-printing at the front desk when I heard him WAILING from down the hall. My heart sank, but I knew I couldn't go back. I SPED to work so I could register and log-on to the day care's streaming camera system, and this is what I saw:
That's Logan on the right in the yellow shirt. He wasn't wearing a yellow shirt when I dropped him off; he was wearing a blue one. Turns out, he cried so hard that he threw up. :( (and that's why they ask you to bring 3 changes of clothes!). This was him during lunch time:
Don't worry-- he didn't throw up again. The Ladybug class wears giant red t-shirts before they eat, so they can get as dirty as they want and then throw those shirts in the washing machine, which is nice so Logan is pretty clean when the day is over. Anyway, aside from the morning throw-up, his first day went OK.
Fortunately, Logan is adjusting really well to day care. He still cries when I drop him off, but according to my husband (who is already logged in and watching the cameras as I'm dropping him off), he only cries for a minute or so and then is happy for the rest of the day. We can see him having fun, participating in circle-time, listening to the teacher read, and even napping in his cot (which is completely foreign to all of us). It also helps that our neighbor is the school nurse, so she pops in a few times a day to check on him, and he can see a familiar face.
While things are going well at school, his behavior at home changed dramatically during the first week. Some of it was probably related to him getting a fever (I actually don't think he got it from day care b/c it came too soon-- pretty sure he got it during the weekend), but he became extra clingy, temperamental/demanding and started to hate baths. The bath aversion really puzzled me. Turns out that it's a very common thing for 2-year olds and is just phase. So far this week, the temperamental/demanding behavior has cooled off a bit, but he's still been clingy and hating bath time. So, I decided to deck out the bath tub:
(Thanks, Yoonha for the heads up on bath crayons!) He was still pretty whiney during bath time, but the new toys definitely helped. I'm just hoping this phase passes quickly!
So, the whole family survived the first 2 weeks of day care...onto the next big change: the big boy bed! I'm hoping it won't be too bad of a transition since he's already now sleeping on a cot in day care... we shall see!
hehe logan is so cute on camera
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