Ivan Started Daycare Last week

Ivan started daycare last week.

This weekend we were all sick. Just like I feared.

But to be fair to daycare, even though the first thing I noticed last Monday were daycare snotty noses, I'm not sure whether it was a daycare bug that mowed us all down, myself and Andy included, or whether it was something he caught the previous Sunday at a birthday party, where the health status of some kids seemed rather dubious, or even that Saturday from Dora's son Lorenzo, who came to our house and had a rather ominous cough, which he picked up at his daycare.

So my fear or better to say, real motherhood challenge of caring for a sick child came true. How did I do? How did we do? Not as bad as it could've been. Last Thursday night, when the whole ordeal started, Ivan just couldn't settle down to go to sleep. I knew it was going to be a tough night because he took a long time to fall asleep and was rather restless and fitfull. As feared, he kept waking up during the night, so we finally brought him to our bed. His nose was getting stuffed up and he couldn't breathe well. And it's oddly loud to hear a 22 month-old baby basically snore into your nose. So in other words none of us slept that night.

He slept fine the following nights, except that he kept waking up at 5:15, his usual time, which made it rather difficult considering that we got sick as well so noone was up for getting up at hour. I bribed Ivan with some early morning milk, so he'd sleep a bit longer. Then we took turns getting up early.

The most difficult and annoying part has been Ivan's absolute refusal to let us touch his nose or face so we can wipe the snot down. Andy tried to suction out the snot one day, which went over really bad. Since then, we've tried these slealthy, on the run nose wipes with a lotion-suffused cleanex, which he's gotten rather deft at dogding. Andy also tried cutting his nails, which is usually doable, but this time the nails were off limits as well.

So back to daycare. How did he do?

Last Monday, he and I went to daycare and hung out there for two hours. I sat in a small chair in the back and just observed. Some kids came up to Ivan to check him out, but mostly they didn't care nor did he. He went off to explore a toy kitchen, while other tots sat around for a book time. He wasn't interested. Then as the story hour was dissipating, a little girl, Isabella and a boy Craighton came up to me. The next thing I knew, I was holding armful of plastic fruits and vegetables and foods that they piles into my arms.
It's interesting because in the class, there are apparently only two boys and the rest are girls. Ten kids all together.

On Tuesday, when we dropped him off, he went straight to the play kitchen. Andy and I hung around for a while but he didn't seem to need us. Then we left. He apparently didn't cry. My mom went to pick him up after lunch time. She got there early and observed him eating his lunch on Miss Azi's lap who was feeding him. He seemed fine. He was thrilled to see my mom, though.

On Wednesday, he stayed the whole day. Again he went in without a problem and didn't seem to be bothered when we left. They said he was a bit cranky, crying for mama before nap time. I think in retrospect, he was crying "me, me" for milk, which I carelessly (or maybe on subconsciously on purpose) didn't pack for him. When I went to get him, he was sitting in Miss Azi's lap playing with some toy. He seemed content, but was he happy when he saw me.

On Thursday, however, he cried bloody murder when we got there. We first had problems leaving the house because he was too busy playing, which was indication that the drop off was potentially going to be tough. We also dropped him off much earlier than on previous days. He was there before 8 and was only the third child to be dropped off. But apparently after we left he did fine. Andy went to pick him up. The teacher said he did fine although throuhgout the day, he occasionally cried mama, again, I think this was really "me, me" not mama. He probably wanted his milk bottle so he can gnaw on it, which is his security blanket. And it something I want to break. However, we were told he can no longer bring the little Trader Joe bottled waters because he spills the water all over the place. And we thought he only did that at home.

He goes back to daycare tomorrow. That will be the real test of how he does and what he thinks.

We kept him home today because both andy and I stayed home from work yesterday and today because we've been sick. So although both of us did work throughout the day--thank God for technology--it was actually nice to be hanging out at home, no matter how sick, and kind of kick of the Christmas season.