A New Daycare

Our new daycare writes his name on his diaper.

Aki Bear has left K's care and has started at a new daycare as of April. You may be asking, "Why? Why pull him out of a daycare that he has grown accustomed to? Why put him in a new place now, when separation anxiety may most likely strike? I won't get into the nitty gritty here (you can call me for that!) but here is a list of reasons for leaving, in no particular order.:

1. INTUITION
2. CONSTANT REQUESTS FOR ADVANCES (and how she went about it.)
3. BROKEN TRUST
4. LOCATION
5. LACK OF CONSISTENCY

I would say the thing that made me feel the most uncomfortable was when K would ask for an advance (to pay her cable bill, her house payment, etc.) while I was at work and Aki B was in her care. I felt blackmailed. I hated that feeling.

We started looking for a different place in February and found one for just $50 more just up the street from us. It's on my way to work and couldn't be more convenient. It is licensed and accredited (unlike K) and there is more structure and it is a better ratio: 3 kids to 1 caretaker.  When we walked in to take the tour there was another Mom and her infant and the Mom said, "Hi Stanley." I was so confused and then she explained that her baby was also at Ks and that she was pulling her out (for the same reasons) and putting her little girl at this new place as well. It was nice know someone was doing the same thing, it made us feel less, "are we doing the right thing?" and more confident in our decision to pull him out of Ks. We will be sad not to be in care with a couple of our friends (you know who you are!) but that just means more playdates with them! One thing the new place doesn't allow that we are bummed about is cloth diapers. So, the Bear will be in disposables while at daycare, three days a week. We'll still be doing cloth at home. I did purchase two gDiapers at the local consignment store here in Chapel Hill, The Red Hen. gDiapers have a fabric outside and this little waterproof liner that you can put a disposable or cloth insert in. So I will purchase some disposable inserts for those and see if they work for the massive amount of pee and poop that the Bear churns out on a daily basis.

He had his first three days there and they went O.K. When I dropped him off the first day he didn't even look at me when I said goodbye he was enthralled by Miss Maria. Apparently he had a rough first hour but once he took a nap he did really well for the rest of the day. The second day he did fine but he hardly drank his bottles and they said it was hard to get him to eat his solids. The third day when I said goodbye he started crawling towards me but I just waved goodbye and walked away (and took a deep breath). He again didn't drink much and it was a challenge for them to get him to eat solids. They asked me if there was a trick and I told them what Mike does for bottle feeding and it sounds like they were doing what Mike does. I told them that I think that it's either teething pain or that he is experiencing mild separation anxiety and it's just going to take some time for him to get used to them feeding him. They said that during the rest of the day he is smiley and that he crawls all over the place (and even onto the little chairs!!) So, he seems happy, we just need to get this food thing sorted out.  I will keep you updated.