Friday, October 15, 2010

Rebel Baby

Halen spent the first 5 months of his life at home with me, and the 6th month home with Daddy, so when we dropped him off at daycare 2 weeks ago, he was rightfully unprepared. But I never expected him to be a "problem child!"

I guess I should start by saying that I wasn't 100% thrilled with his daycare. I felt like they didn't play with the kids enough or give them enough individual attention. It was an in-home daycare run by a married couple, and there were 4 infants and 3 toddlers. I think they were overwhelmed as it was, but they expected the babies to sit quietly in a crib and just entertain themselves all day. I would go to pick up Halen and the toddlers would just be sitting there by themselves, not interacting at all. There were 3 toddlers, and one would be sitting around, one would be in a high chair eating a snack and one would be sitting on a mat. No music, no laughter, nothing. The other infants would be in cribs or bouncy seats just sitting there staring around. It gives me the chills just thinking about it.

So I guess it was definitely a blessing when I picked Halen up on Thursday and they told me that he wasn't adjusting quickly enough, and that when they put him down for naps, he would cry, which disturbed the other babies.Well, of course he would cry. We don't put Halen in a crib and walk away if he's wide awake. "See this baby (zombie)? He doesn't have to be held or played with. He just sits by himself staring around nice and quietlike. Halen needs to be more like that."

They told me they'd give him another week to improve and then they wouldn't be able to keep him there since he disrupted the other babies. I took Halen straight to the super fancy daycare that we had been on a waiting list for since I was 7 months pregnant, and told them my sob story. They told me they were moving a 12-month-old up to the toddler center this Monday and they could take Halen, but it had to be now. So now I feel really good about the care he'll be getting but it costs more than my college tuition. Hope he appreciates it!

Anyhow, sorry for the awful story-telling. I'm typing one-handed and I'm still not sure how to better tell this tale. Plus, it's bedtime and I'm sleepy.

Other stuff: excited to be flying Halen to Poulsbo the few days before Thanksgiving! Yea!

School is good. Hard and tiring but good. Everything else is fine too! The end.

1 comment:

  1. O to the M to the G.....!! Good riddance zombie raisers!! Im so glad he got in the rolls royce daycare! So sorry it's an arm and a leg, but sounds far superior and worth it :) And lil Halen, you are not a problem child. You don't fall into the zombie baby category and trust us, that's a good thing! Don't let those daycare peops tell you differently! So happy for you Mandy, now you can rest easy :)

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