Daycare - Day 1

We did our first visiting day at daycare on Tuesday. The facility had an open house and fall festival the Saturday before, so we went to that both so Steve could see it and meet the teachers and so Ben would become familiar with it. I'm so glad we went! They had several activity stations set up in the classrooms - one was painting blow-up paper bags to resemble pumpkins and adhering fall-themed foam shapes to them, another was painting/stamping with halved apples, and another (Ben's favorite) was face painting, which Ben couldn't get enough of. First he had a pumpkin painted on his right cheek. He went to the mirror to check himself out, then promptly marched right back to the chair he'd been sitting in and asked for "more paint?" This went on about 5 more times, until he finished up with the pumpkin, a heart on his left cheek, a star on his forehead, "BEN" written down his left cheek, and a red polka dot on the tip of his nose. He had such a good time and was talking about face painting the rest of the day. We kept mentioning to him that this was going to be his new school, and did he like his new school, etc.

This was actually a great help when, on Tuesday morning, I told him we'd be going to school. Immediately his face lit up and he said, "Paint face?" I was so happy that he remembered! I told him that I wasn't sure if they'd be doing face-painting today. We went in, and he seemed a little cautious (understandably) so I sat with him for the first 45 minutes. They were just starting snack when we got there - apple juice and yogurt - but Ben wanted nothing to do with it. He sat on my lap and we watched the other kids. Then, out of nowhere, he said, "Ben juice," so we got him a cup of apple juice. He still sat on my lap to drink it. Then, a few minutes later, he said, "Ben yogurt," and left my lap to sit in his chair at the table so he could eat his yogurt. He saw all the other kids washing their hands, so he got up, put his stuff in the garbage can, and washed his hands. It was amazing to watch! Next was music time, out in the hallway. He sat on my lap the entire time - which I honestly wasn't too shocked by as he sat in my lap during our 6 week Music Together class. We went back into the classroom and he started playing with the fake food in the fake kitchen (the kid loves fake kitchens. He always gravitates towards them. If there's a room with a fake kitchen in it, I'd put money on him going to it within 5 minutes). When he seemed engaged, I told him that I was going to sit in the front lobby. He cried, said, "Mommy stay" and blocked my access to the door. I got sucked in, so I stayed. He rebounded pretty quickly, so I decided to make an exit, for real this time. His poor little face got such a bright yet deep shade of red, and he was crying and calling for me. One of the teachers picked him up and tried to settle him as I closed the door behind me and went to sit in the lobby.

I was sure they'd come out to get me in 10 minutes because they couldn't settle him. That's what happened when I tried to put him in the gym daycare - they had to get me out of my step & sculpt class after 10 minutes because he wouldn't stop crying. I kept checking the clock. 10 minutes went by... 20 minutes... 45... an hour... Before I knew it, it had been over 2 hours and I hadn't heard anything from the classroom. Phew! At one point I peeked in on him (Steve called on my cell phone and told me to) and he was sitting at the table eating his lunch. At around 12:15 one of the teachers came out to get me, because she wasn't sure if he was staying for nap time (he wasn't). We talked about his day - he'd cried for about 5 minutes, then calmed down. He was a little stand-offish at first, but then seemed to get more comfortable. He was laughing and smiling during their activities. He ran around on the playground. He put Little People onto a bus, and a little girl named Catherine put them back on. He ate 3 apple wedges and all of his turkey hot dog, and even asked for me. I was thrilled.

When I went into his room to get him, he burst back into tears as soon as he saw me. This hurt more than the tears when I was leaving him. I interpreted these tears to mean, "How could you have left me here? How could you have done this to me? You're my mom, and you left me." Ugh, I felt more guilt than I think I've ever felt. It was horrible. Fortunately he was able to pull himself together after a minutes of comforting from me (I still needed someone to comfort me).

When I asked him later if he'd had a good time at school, he said, "Mm-hm," which translates to "Yes mommy!" I was again thrilled by this. I'd really thought that the day would be a disaster, but it really exceeded my expectations. Hooray!