First week without daycare

But first, the Quote of the Day: Control is an illusion, anyway (courtesy of my buddy, Shine). 😀 If you're the mother of a son, or of more than one child, I'm certain you understand what this means!

This was the first week without daycare at our house. I can't remember how much I filled you all in on, but we'd been having problems with Matt going for about the last 3-4 weeks. He was resistant to going, crying, clinging, freaking out, and then he started getting really aggressive. I know for a fact there is at least one bully in his class, but apparently the director knew it too, and that's just the way it was. His being there was affecting him poorly at home, even though he actually had fun while he was there. Unfortunately, the staff in his room was constantly rotating, all of his friends from when he first started there were moved up to the next class, and everything seemed chaotic. The director had always been very helpful and aware of any issues we had, but it seems my son stopped ranking on her list of things to worry about.

Here's the email I sent her to let her know we weren't coming back (this, after many, many conversations about the room and staff being so up in the air).

As you probably noticed, Matthew hasn't been in in a few days. He
won't be coming today, either. I think we're going to take a break
for the summer. He's just been so unhappy lately and since he's been
home for the past week, he's turned back into the little boy he used
to be. I think that there is some bullying going on there – in fact,
I've seen it with my own eyes and watched nothing happen. I can't
have him bringing that behavior home to his little brother. In
addition, I've felt like the lack of consistency in his room has
really bothered him, and the fact that the teachers simply mark his
form and give no additional feedback has bothered me. Truthfully, it
seems like the staff is just there for the job lately, and I need
more than that for my son.

I know that you've gone out of your way to be helpful and
accommodating to us, and I truly appreciate it. Perhaps in the fall
we'll look into coming back, but for right now, I think it's better
for all of us if Matthew doesn't return.

And here is the response I got back:

I am sorry to hear that Matthew will not be returning. I hope you will consider bringing him back in the fall. It was great to work with your family. I hope that you will stay in touch.

Um, anyone else feel like that was not enough? And then when Mike went in to collect his things, they basically ignored him and on his way out said simply, BYE! Without a doubt, we made the right decision taking him out of there. And seriously, I wasn't one of those parents – I'm very easy going and gave them the benefit of the doubt so many times I should be smacked (including the time he went ALL day without a diaper change). So, the fact that they didn't even respond and didn't even question us leaving just proves it was time to leave.

I do feel bad though, because he did really have fun there and he wouldn't be the super smart, outgoing, silly boy he is now if he hadn't gone. And he did have some nice friends there as well. But hey, he's not even three, I'm guessing he'll make some new friends, right?

We made it into the office a few times this week, although not for very long, and not long enough for me to get anything done, but it's a start. I'm working on a little "homeschooling curriculum" for us – it actually sounds more involved than it is – what I want is just some ideas to keep the learning going at home – through play and every day activities. We'll see what I can come up with. We've got to come up with more of a routine as well. Not a strict schedule, but a basic idea of daily stuff to do. That should make it easier on all of us. And I'm looking into hiring someone to help out so that I actually can get to work and do something productive (workwise, that is!).

I've totally slacked off on the gym this week, but for 2 reasons – 1) I hurt my foot pretty bad (did I tell the collander story?) and 2) time has not been on my side this week. But tomorrow, back on the horse!

Mike was teaching Matt all about weather tonight – we had a wicked thunderstorm – and it worked pretty well in keeping him from being scared. Mike is a wonderful teacher and Matt just soaked in everything he said. So adorable!

The wise and wonderful one is off for 11 days – anyone wanna guess how happy that makes me (and him)? We have a bunch of stuff to get done around the house, but I'm hoping we can have some good old family fun in there as well.