Tag Archives: daycare

Eleanor’s New School

May
25

Posted by: Maggie

This month Eleanor started at a new daycare.  We made the switch for a few reasons and are really happy that we did.

First, I’ve been so busy with work that I need Eleanor in daycare full days rather than half days. And the full time program at her old daycare was a lot more expensive than their half day program. That wouldn’t be a problem if we were completely happy there. But we weren’t.

A few months ago Eleanor’s teacher left the school. We had loved her and weren’t totally thrilled with her replacement, who was supposed to be temporary but had still not been replaced after more than a month.  The new teacher wasn’t terrible or anything I just didn’t have a great feeling about her. I don’t think she was the right teacher for Eleanor.

Eleanor had started crying and asking me to stay when I dropped her off in the morning. She had never really done that before. I think that was partly due to her general crankiness from all the sleep problems she was having, but I think that she also just wasn’t enjoying school as much as she had before. She never talked about her new teacher. Never even mentioned her name. This was odd because she talked about the 3s teacher who was in her classroom when she arrived every morning, the assistant director who drops in on all the classrooms throughout the day, and even the school cook who brought her breakfast and lunch. But she never mentioned her teacher. Kinda weird, right?

So when I started getting really busy and realized that I needed full time daycare, we thought it was a good opportunity to check out some other schools. We settled on the one that had been our second choice when we had originally looked at daycares. We really like Eleanor’s new teacher. And I love that instead of having classrooms solely based on age like her old school (infants, toddlers, 2s, 3s) the new school bases it more on developmental stage and switch classes based on the school year and not by birthday. So her group of 2 year old toddlers are all together and will stay together until they go to Kindergarten. They will all switch from their room to a preschool room in June for the summer program and stay into the fall and rest of the year, and their teacher will go with them. At the old school the kids changed classes after their birthday so there were always kids coming in and out of each class. Here, unless one leaves the school or new ones come in, Eleanor will stay with the same group of kids as long as she is there. And it’s about $70 a week less expensive than her old school would have been.

Although, we knew that it was the right thing to do to switch schools, we were concerned about how she would handle the transition. Especially because she’s never napped at school and has never stayed a full day, but she’s done really well. The first week was a little rocky. We got some reports of her “testing” the teachers a little, taking other kids snacks she wasn’t supposed to have because of her dairy allergy, not participating in activities she didn’t want to do, not napping, but she seems to have settled in and is doing really well. She’s being a little more cooperative, eating her own food, and taking naps every day. The best part is that at the end of the day she doesn’t want to go home. She always wants to stay at school.

The other day she said to Josh, “Daddy, I like my new school. I run that school.” (She’s just like her mommy!) So, I’m pretty sure we made the right decision.

Daycare Strikes Again!

Sep
28

Posted by: Maggie

Yup, here we are just four weeks into daycare and sick again. Oh and this time, it’s sooooo much better because it’s not just Eleanor that’s sick it’s all of us! Which is really just the best thing ever. I just loooove to be sick while still having to chase a toddler around, who despite being sick still seems to have more energy than I can muster on my best days. We are really just having so much fun here.

Eleanor and Josh started feeling sick last week. We thought it was just Eleanor’s new teeth bothering her, but now that I think about it. Her night wakings and crankiness started just before Josh’s sore throat and fatigue began. So I think that she got sick first and then Josh did. It started with the sore throat and fatigue early last week and then turned into full blown colds with coughs and runny noses over the weekend.

I thought that I had managed to avoid it. I guess I have a pretty strong immune system because I rarely get sick. I attribute it to my fourteen years of vegetarianism. But no such luck this time. The fatigue set in on Sunday morning, and then came the sore throat towards the evening. This morning I woke up with the stuffy nose and a throat that feels like I swallowed some sandpaper. Not so pleasant.

Eleanor and Josh are still rocking the cold symptoms, but I think they are both feeling a little better. Hopefully that means I’ll feel better in a day or two. Today is not so great because Eleanor is at home with me. And has been harassing me all morning, “Momma, Mommmmmaaaaaa…mommy, mommy, mommyeee!” I’ll be glad to get to rest tomorrow when she is in daycare. But today is going to be rough.

Sick Girl

Sep
15

Posted by: Maggie

We knew it would happen. Everyone talks about it. We just hoped that our little one had some sort of super-human immune system that could fight off the illnesses that no other child seems to be able to fight off. She has only been sick once before. She had only one cold right after her twelve month doctor visit and hasn’t been sick since.

Well, it happened. Eleanor started daycare and immediately got sick, no super-human immune system after all. The first weekend after her first week of daycare she had some cold symptoms and was complaining that her ear hurt and was tugging at it. We took her into urgent care and sure enough, she had an ear infection. So we started her on antibiotics and she was mostly fine for the rest of the following week, just a little more clingy and lethargic than usual.

Over the weekend, however, things were not so great. Her cold seemed to be pretty much gone and she wasn’t complaining about her ear at all, but she started to have some diarrhea. (Here is where she gets upset when reading this as a teenager, “That is sooo embarrrasssing, Mom!” Well, it’s necessary for the story, so..) With the diarrhea has come a terrible diaper rash. Every time she pees or poops she is in pain. We are trying to do what we have done in the past when she has a bad diaper rash-not use wipes, just cotton balls for clean-up, and give her bottom a little airing out time before putting a new diaper on-but the poor girl is in so much pain it’s difficult to clean her up at all, and then she immediately wants a new diaper so that her bottom is covered up and we don’t really want her going around naked bottomed with diarrhea. What I’ve been trying to do is to keep her diaperless on the changing table for as long as I can keep her entertained before putting a new diaper on so that her bottom has time to dry out.

Monday morning she woke up at about a quarter to six which is almost two hours earlier than usual. She was crying inconsolably. Her poor bottom was presumably in a wet diaper for the better part of the night. And she didn’t want a change because she knew it would hurt. I did give her a change and then she spent the morning sitting with me on the couch watching a Curious George DVD, eating cheerios, and drinking soy milk. She would cry when I got up, so I just sat with her reading a book while I had Josh make her a doctor’s appointment from work. She eventually fell asleep on me and I was able to slide out from under her and replace myself with a pillow, so that I could get dressed and ready to take her to the doctor. Meanwhile she got to sleep for about an hour before we left.

So we went to the see the doctor. He confirmed that her ear infection had cleared up so we could discontinue the use of antibiotics, which were probably the cause of the diarrhea. Although he said that she might just have a stomach bug in addition to the ear infection so that could be another cause. So I didn’t give her any antibiotics all day Monday, but the diarrhea has continued. Ugggh. I’m keeping her home from daycare today and hopefully she will get better.

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