daycare

After 2 weeks, Sam seems to have really settled into daycare. We started gradually: the first day I stayed for about an hour then just left him for a half-day, and the rest of that week I stayed about a half-hour each morning then left him for about 6 hours (9:30-3:30) before picking him up. He still sobbed each time I left, but when he did, one of the teachers would hold him and comfort him, and when I returned he would be playing and have napped/eaten/etc., but he'd be clingy as soon as I got there and very ready to leave. I resolved to give it two weeks to see if he started liking it more. The second week he still cried 'mum mum mum' each time I left, but again was being comforted by a teacher, so I'd stay 15 minutes or so, and they reported that he cried less than 5 minutes after I left. He would be playing actively and happily when I got there to pick him up at the end of the day (5-ish). Well, this week, he's stopped crying altogether. One of the teachers, I., figured out last week that bubbles in the morning really helps distract the kids who have separation anxiety-- so much so that by Thursday or Friday of last week, Sam was saying "bubbles" in anticipation on the stroller ride to daycare in the morning. On Monday, Sam happily ran up the stairs of the slide as soon as we got there, and gave me a hug goodbye when I left then ran back to the slide. Yesterday he was dancing in bubbles when I headed out the door, and today he barely looked up when I gave him a kiss. Yay!

He's been steadily learning words, including ones that I'm pretty sure he picked up at daycare. But yesterday we got the first concrete evidence of Good Habits he's learning there: after getting home, nursing on the couch, and reading a book, Sam was wanting to read more books but I needed to start making dinner. He'd been running around with a book he was wanting me to read, but when I offered him a snack, he abruptly turned around and headed for the bookshelf, put the book back on the shelf with absolutely no urging or even suggestion from me while saying eagerly "cacka!" (cracker), and then ran into the kitchen to receive some cackas. I've noticed that the daycare gently but consistently enforces cleaning up before mealtimes or before going outside, and it was so nice to see that he's internalized that habit. We'll have to enforce it at home to keep it up.

In less desirable things learned at daycare, Sam seems to have learned to hit (from another kid there who's been hitting everyone since the first day). I think these things are epidemic in group-care settings, and hitting is at this point less worrisome than biting (just because less harm can be done by an uncoordinated slap than by a sharp set of little teeth), another common epidemic, but it isn't fun, and it's hard to enforce consequences at home when the consequences at daycare are different. (I'd been leaving the room for a few moments each time he slapped me before, but with other kids that doesn't make any sense-- if they're slapping in competition over a toy or over slide-access, for example, then removing the victim only helps the aggressor.) They do teach "gentle", and I'm sure the slap-happiness will fade eventually.

No pics to post today, but I finally bought myself a three-months-late birthday present of a tiny pocket-size digital camera, because our very nice digital SLR is just too cumbersome to bring to the park every time I go. My new camera was surprisingly inexpensive and did I mention it's tiny? So I'm hoping to have a lot more snapshots to share from now on.