Adventures in Daycare

One week before we moved, I started the Little Man at a new daycare around the block from my work. I didn't want too many changes at once.

His second day there, he got bitten repeatedly by some Devil Child.

The second week, he choked on a banana because they weren't watching him carefully enough - when I specifically asked them to and paid more for this special service, apparently.

The third week, he ran up to me when I arrived and told me he had an "owie." No one could tell me how he got this owie.

I'm a three-strikes-yer-out kind of person, especially with my kid.

What's even worse is it seems it was a complete free-for-all there, with absolutely no discipline. He has tasted freedom and wants more.

This week alone, I got kicked in the eye, which scratched my cornea and meant I had to miss a day of work to see a doctor. That same evening, he threw a rock at my head. He has pinched me and hit me. I'm sure he learned all these amazing skills at this new crazy daycare. It's frightening how quickly my child has changed.

I'm hoping with time, patience and consistency - we have a new home daycare keeping a good eye on him - he will return to his good old non-violent self.

How quickly things unravel and how much work it is to get things back on track! 

Delivering the Diagnosis News to Daycare

The Little Man has been in full time daycare for almost 6 months now, but even though we had the autism diagnosis before then, we chose not to disclose that info to our daycare educator. It was a choice we didn't take lightly and we decided it was better that she wasn't biased. He is easy-going enough and we figured she would eventually figure it out for herself that he was a little different.

Well, it didn't take long for her to notice his peculiarities, but she was flexible enough to work with him and not against him. She figured out quickly what kind of discipline works and what doesn't, and she is super patient. Sometimes, not knowing you are dealing with a special need's child produces far more creative and efficient results than knowing and giving up. I mean no disrespect when I speak of people giving up - but the fact is, a lot of people (not the parents usually, but others) give up trying to work with a special need's child and don't set the bar very high because they think the child doesn't have potential. If you go in with the attitude that every child has equal potential, you will usually try harder to help each child achieve their best. 

That feeling you get when you hear the news the very first time.

Last night, I made an appointment with her to chat about the Little Man and finally come clean about his diagnoses. My only regret about this conversation was the way I delivered the news. It doesn't faze me any more to say my child is autistic and apraxic, but I forgot about the feeling you get when you hear the news for the very first time. She cares about him deeply and she got tears in her eyes. I told her a therapist would probably be coming into her home to help him and she said she would do anything to help him. We spoke about the best time of day for him and the number of hours needed. We totally agreed and I am confident despite having only worked with him for 6 months, she knows him very well and loves him like her own. We know we totally lucked out with this daycare worker. She truly is a blessing to our family.

Daycare Funnies

My friend was recently shopping around for daycare and came across this ad:

home day care close to metro Including meals and snakes, long experienced (10years) in a safe and clean child friendly environment

I know when I'm looking for a daycare, the first thing I ask about is are the snakes included!

Keeping kids from moving safe long time.

At my son's home daycare, which doesn't have any snakes at all (unfortunately?) his caretaker has been valiantly and bravely potty training him. I send him with a bag of clean clothes and strangely, at the end of the day, I receive this:

His pants have been Ziplock sealed for freshness! 

I sometimes wash and reuse Ziplock bags (colour me frugal!) but I don't have the heart to after there's been pee-pee pants sealed in them all day.