Daycare demoted my baby, and I’m ok with that
On Friday the teachers at the daycare had expressed to ITMama that they were concerned about Maggie’s clingy behavior and that she wasn’t happy unless she was getting one on one attention from an adult or the one friend she made in class.
Keeping in mind for the past two months while we waited for a spot to open at almost every daycare we visited Maggie has been with either me or ITMama all day long, so she’s gotten a bit used to the attention.
Something seemed up with their request though, mostly I was pretty sure I’d read that behavior was pretty standard for a baby around Maggie’s age and nothing to be concerned about. So I flipped open the “what to expect: toddler years” or some such and her exact behavior almost in the wording they used was listed.
She cries when you leave, is fine 10 minutes later, doesn’t interact with other children much, cries when anyone leaves. Yup, she’s 16 months old, that’s an 18-month old set of problems. These are things that millions of babies go through and get written about in parenting books and blogs, so much so that I’d already read it and wonder that the person who was in charge of keeping my baby alive while I’m at work hadn’t.
This lead to a weekend of me wondering – I’ve had a history of not feeling easy about this place, it’s backed up by the reviews from when I didn’t like the place, their choice of a door security code, and an overall feeling that something’s still not right.
Not that we have a lot of choice in the matter, but it’s annoying…
Today when ITMama dropped her off they demoted her to the baby room from the toddler room. This actually seems like a perfectly good move as the difference in baby care and toddler care is a marked one.
As Maggie’s only been a toddler for about two weeks, and she’s still not full-tilt toddler, I don’t have a problem with the move. Actually feel it’ll be a better set for her for a few weeks until she’s at toddler development level.
Also as the symptoms she’s got are 18-month standard daycare symptoms, maybe she’ll develop beyond those in the next bit in the baby room. Maybe in the next couple of weeks the toddler care people will have a chance to brush up on “What to expect: the toddler years” and see what’s pretty much spelled out symptom for symptom.
