Starting a new daycare... harder on Mommy?

There is always something hard about being a Mommy. Sometimes it is leaving your child at daycare, feeling guilty because you are leaving him for 9 hours a day. And then sometimes, on top of that, you feel weird about the daycare itself and get the feeling that it isn't good enough for your baby.

I recently went through this excruciating feeling that my daycare wasn't what my baby deserved. I kept thinking, "He seems happy, mostly, but there are so many kids in such a small place, and no lesson plans...." The more I spoke with my mom friends who had their kids at other daycares, the more it was made clear to me that my care wasn't what I wanted.

I put my two weeks in at my old daycare, once I found a new one, and the last day my son had at the old daycare, I came in to pick him up and none of the caregivers had any idea that it was his last day! I couldn't believe the director hadn't told them! They were heartbroken, and had to rush around and find all of his things (which I don't think I got all of them anyway).

How does a Mom know if her baby's daycare is a good one or not? If they seem clean and he isn't crying when she gets there, and they seem to love him? Well, here are a few things I have learned in the year I have been a mother: 

Your daycare may not be a good one if: 

*It doesn't have a lesson plan (meaning they either have a lazy teacher, or no teachers that have an actual education in Early Education)

*None of the teachers have a degree in teaching

*Whenever you walk into the room, the teachers are all standing, and either congregated together or at least not interacting with the children

*When there are babies that are crying, and in the 5-10 minutes you are there, the daycare ladies don't even notice that no one else is helping the baby, and no one moves to take care of him/her.

*When there are communication problems, such as the director not telling the staff that a child is leaving their care (!!)

*When your baby is constantly tired at home, but they tell you he doesn't need that second nap that you have been constantly telling them you want him to take!

Some reasons to love your daycare:

*If they have a crib especially for your child so that you don't have to worry about whether or not it is getting cleaned in between kids sleeping in the same spot.

*Lesson plans and menus readily available for you to peruse.

*Hand washing before and after eating, after changing diapers, even when they are a year old!

*Lots of toys that are age appropriate for the kids to play with.

*Teachers are down on the floor playing with the kids even at the end of the day and can give you a smile and still seem patient as ever, even though they spent 9 hours with at least a few very energetic kids!

*The more communication, the better!

I'm not an expert about daycares... yet..... but I am learning fast that there is so much more to finding a daycare than what is on paper! 

Babyproof? Pfbth, we have plenty of time!

Not!

When little man started scooting at.. 8-9 months we were so very proud of him!  But that means a whole new world has opened up for not just him, but for me too.  When I saw him take his first few scoots I thought, "I've got time, he's pretty slow at it and I'll be close by to monitor him".

Well, a week later, I was laughing at my ignorant self.  I'm just letting Karson play, enjoy his time on the floor in his room and being able to scoot around to his favorite objects.  Well, I soon noticed that if I made noises or made something appear super cool, he'd start scooting over to me.

And so the game began.  I would pile some blocks on top of each other, he would scoot over to me to knock them over (being the boy that he is) and then as he was doing that, I would go a few feet away and start rattling one of his favorite rattles.  Head turns, looks, then immediately changes direction toward me and the rattle.  And so on and so forth.  Finally I get him so into playing with his toys that I think, "I should probably go and check on his bottle now" so I get up and leave the room.  As soon as I am out of sight for more than a few seconds, he starts whimpering and scooting towards me.

Well, not more than a couple of weeks went by of scooting and soon he was crawling. WAY too soon for my liking, but I was so proud, it took me a little while to realize what this really meant- HE COULD GO FASTER!!! AH!

Scary thought... because he was already getting into WAY too much. Well, after he had been crawling for awhile, my husband put latches on our cabinet doors so he couldn't open any of the cabinets except for the one with the Tupperware (which he thinks is awesome! It's definitely a good idea to give a child at least one cabinet that they can get into without you worrying too much... just about the mess that you have to clean up later :-)).  I had to move a few things in our open cabinets, so that the things he can reach are unbreakable... but there is only so much one can do in an apartment. And we are finding that out the hard way, while Karson constantly goes straight to the computer with all the cords. AH! So I find myself saying "No, Karson, that is not for you" and if he doesn't listen, I have to put him somewhere else.... and then he crawls straight back over there, sometimes smiling and chuckling to himself as he crawls fast right to the cords again! AH! 

So the motherhood of NO's has come into play in my house... and I do not like it! And neither does Karson... he has the funniest temper tantrum when I say no. I tell him no, and he dramatically throws himself on the ground and cries his fake cry and if I don't acknowledge his tantrum, he comes and burrows himself on me and ends up laughing because I tickle the tantrum out of him. But then two seconds later, guess where he is!?

Well, I have yet to find out what I can do at this point, because he is so young (Just 10 days from his first birthday!) but I do know that if I don't set ground rules, my child will be the spoiled child no one wants to take care of (except for the biased immediate family, of course!).

On a happy, and scary, note, Karson has started standing and walking with our help and along the furniture. So of course the next step (and I do mean that literally!) will be his walking without help. Eek! Watch out world, Karson will be walking in a month... and my house is NOT ready! 

Praises to my Father in Heaven!

Well, it has been awhile since I posted, but I want to write this not only to help others, but also to help myself remember things that I know I will forget!

Yesterday was another wonderful day as a mother- I can honestly say that- because I love this beautiful boy so very much! I can't imagine a life better than the one I have, and I was thinking that as I was trying very hard to put my little guy down for the night and he just WASN'T having it! So as he was crying and flailing around trying to get out of the "fall asleep hold" I had on him, I was looking around the room and thinking, 'There is honestly no where I would rather be, than right here, right now.' Do I deserve to be this happy? Definitely not! But I am enjoying every second of it anyway! I know without a doubt that it is God who has blessed me with such a wonderful life, family, job, friends, and everything else! I have so many things I am blessed with, and I just needed to sing my praises on my blog!

I was reminded this week that I definitely do not give praise to my Father enough, and I am ready to remedy that situation right now! I'm trying my hardest to make sure that reading my bible happens daily, and I did it today... so that's a good start! (Ha, no one is perfect!) My praise music is blaring at work, and I couldn't be happier!

Another blessing definitely worth mentioning is the fact that my little guy is ALMOST ONE! WHOA! I am so excited for every day with him, and so excited... and sad... that he is getting so BIG! He started crawling right after Christmas and now he is standing with almost no help, and is taking steps with help... and it makes me want to cry and laugh and sing all at the same time! I've never felt this love before, but I just want to cuddle him forever so he gets that I love him with every fiber of my being! 

We've definitely had our ups and downs, mostly our downs being that Karson is not much of an eater, and especially when he is sick every few weeks, he eats even less.... so I struggle with the fact that my little baby is not a chubby one. My family loves chubby babies and seeing my skinny little guy makes them say, "Feed him more!" Well... I do! But he is not one for eating. It took me awhile, but I think I am getting to the point where I realize there is nothing I can do to change it- it's just who he is! 

My son is also a social, beautiful, mischievous, helpful (or so he thinks :-)), and so very smart child! As soon as he hears me doing dishes, he crawls really fast over to the dishwasher and proceeds to try to "help" mommy with dishes! He is super funny and cute as he does that- and now I resort to doing dishes really fast... and when I see him crawling crazily towards me I rush to put the rest (or as many as I can) of the dishes into the dishwasher and close it before he gets there! It's a marathon, but it is fun.

At daycare, my little guy gets awesome attention. And when you are that cute, why wouldn't you?  A couple months ago he moved from the Young Infant room to the Mobile Baby room, and he seems to be loving all the new toys he can play with! The best part is that he always finds a favorite teacher, and in fact one of the teachers that is a float will always come to find him at different times in the day to give him snuggles and love, and I absolutely love that! There are goods and bads to daycare, but that is one of the many good things about daycare- he gets used to meeting new faces, and he has lots of friends and love!

My life may not go as planned- I don't have the house, I'm not debt-free, and I'm not a SAHM (Stay at home mom), but I love my life and that is all thanks to my God!