New Daycare Transition
As soon as we put our house on the market, I started looking for daycare. I wasn't going to settle for anything but the best. I explored the idea of centres and Montessori, as well as private daycares. I was really married to the idea of one of the smaller centres, but they didn't have any openings, and a huge wait list, so we re-married the home-care idea. I like smaller settings, so I know Garett is getting the one on one he loves and craves, as well as children around his age.
We loved his last provider so much. She was SO amazing with the children, and did lots of fun stuff, but I knew I wanted a more educational, learning-centric environment, being that he is entering that prime phase right before kindergarten. I wanted to ease him into the school setting. He was surrounded by children younger than him at his old daycare, and afterschool some older kids would come by, which I wasn't particularly fond of (he picked up a few less desirable words "suck" being the biggest one--"This SUCKS" is not something you want your three year old saying). And while being around younger children was great for him to learn how to help once the baby comes, and how to play gently, it wasn't helping his development/education at all. So the change was welcomed on mine and Tyler's end.
This does not change how hard it was to say goodbye to a setting that was so influential in your child's life for just over 2 years. It was very hard to go into the search with a more open mind, when I was already so happy and comfortable where we were. But lo and behold, we had no choice, and not much time to make the decision. We sold our place in 35 days, with a closing date of another 35 days. It was a very difficult, frantic, stressful, emotional time. I knew it would all be worth it in the end, but boy was I in deep for those 35 days. A roller coaster of emotion, to put it gently.
So, during one of the worst winter storms we had, we trekked into Orleans to meet with one very promising lady. She has her masters in education, and was a teacher for 12 years before she started having children. She has three boys (all almost grown now) and has been doing homecare for 16 years. One of those houses that as soon as you walk into, you feel at home. At peace, comfortable, welcomed and cared for. It was a good start. I had a lot of questions. She had a lot of questions. Garett was SO shy because he had just woken up from sleeping in the car, that it was impossible to gauge how he was feeling, which I wasn't ecstatic about. Luckily he's at an age where he is very well spoken though, and not afraid to tell us how he's feeling about things. I left with the package of paperwork, and on the way home we talked about it. Tyler approved, I approved, but it was up to the boss (G-man). He said YES I like it there. He liked the little doggie and the toys and the house and the provider. But being that he sat on daddy's lap the whole time groggy, it added another dimension of stress, worrying about leaving him on that first day.
When we got home, I sent her a quick email, grabbing up the one spot she had open. We exchanged many emails after that, and planned the start date. Garett finished at his old daycare on March 18. We moved that weekend, and then so began 10 days of being home with mommy. He started at the new daycare on March 29.
The week leading up to D-day, I prepared him for the idea of going to the new place. He seemed very excited. The night before, we were signing the paperwork, and g decided to take one of the sheets and write up his own "contrac" So I asked him what he wrote and he responded that "I wrote: I promise to have lots of fun at Cindys, make lots of new friends, listen to her and be nice to the doggie" And then pointed to a scribble in the bottom right corner and said "SIGNED: Garett" hahaha..So funny.
Tyler dropped him off that morning, and I called him later in the morning to see how it went. He said he was chatty from the moment he walked in the door. But when he realized Tyler was leaving, there was a bit of commotion, but no tears. She doesn't usually make contact through the day, but she went out of her way to send me a quick message saying "Garett is having a wonderful day. No tears this morning--sat on my lap for maybe 5 minutes and then wanted to get up and meet his three new friends and play. He is all smiles and giggles"...That really helped me get through those last few hours at work!
Come lunch time, she put on a show for them while she prepared the food, and she said she looked over and Garett was cuddled up to his new best friend. That little boy and Garett proceeded to talk about each other to their parents all night. How cute. Nothing like easing a mothers worries like a new friend on day 1!
This daycare has weekly themes, with corresponding crafts, stories, activities, toys, etc. When we came, the theme was "safety week", so they are learning about firemen, street lights, police officers, etc--and holy, win my child over. They have all the costumes out to play with, and everyday I show up, he's dressed up as something different and has big open arms and a smile on to greet me. LOVE IT.
Another thing she does that I love , love, LOVE is daily activity reports. She tells us what he ate for each meal (theres snacks of fruits, veggies, cheese, etc at snack time, but apparently snacks are never an issue lol), if he slept, what she needs from us supply wise, if he went to the bathroom, his mood through the day, etc..I find it to be really great because I don't like to ask a ton of questions when I pick him up, and he has a very active imagination, so sometimes he will tell me he ate ice cream for breakfast, and I don't know what to believe. I am keeping them all and going to make a book for him so he can read through them when he's older :)
The house:
Some pictures of her basement "classroom" area. They also have a play zone on the main floor, and the top floor. A fenced in yard, and live on a crescent, so they draw on the driveway quite often as well lol
We loved his last provider so much. She was SO amazing with the children, and did lots of fun stuff, but I knew I wanted a more educational, learning-centric environment, being that he is entering that prime phase right before kindergarten. I wanted to ease him into the school setting. He was surrounded by children younger than him at his old daycare, and afterschool some older kids would come by, which I wasn't particularly fond of (he picked up a few less desirable words "suck" being the biggest one--"This SUCKS" is not something you want your three year old saying). And while being around younger children was great for him to learn how to help once the baby comes, and how to play gently, it wasn't helping his development/education at all. So the change was welcomed on mine and Tyler's end.
This does not change how hard it was to say goodbye to a setting that was so influential in your child's life for just over 2 years. It was very hard to go into the search with a more open mind, when I was already so happy and comfortable where we were. But lo and behold, we had no choice, and not much time to make the decision. We sold our place in 35 days, with a closing date of another 35 days. It was a very difficult, frantic, stressful, emotional time. I knew it would all be worth it in the end, but boy was I in deep for those 35 days. A roller coaster of emotion, to put it gently.
So, during one of the worst winter storms we had, we trekked into Orleans to meet with one very promising lady. She has her masters in education, and was a teacher for 12 years before she started having children. She has three boys (all almost grown now) and has been doing homecare for 16 years. One of those houses that as soon as you walk into, you feel at home. At peace, comfortable, welcomed and cared for. It was a good start. I had a lot of questions. She had a lot of questions. Garett was SO shy because he had just woken up from sleeping in the car, that it was impossible to gauge how he was feeling, which I wasn't ecstatic about. Luckily he's at an age where he is very well spoken though, and not afraid to tell us how he's feeling about things. I left with the package of paperwork, and on the way home we talked about it. Tyler approved, I approved, but it was up to the boss (G-man). He said YES I like it there. He liked the little doggie and the toys and the house and the provider. But being that he sat on daddy's lap the whole time groggy, it added another dimension of stress, worrying about leaving him on that first day.
When we got home, I sent her a quick email, grabbing up the one spot she had open. We exchanged many emails after that, and planned the start date. Garett finished at his old daycare on March 18. We moved that weekend, and then so began 10 days of being home with mommy. He started at the new daycare on March 29.
The week leading up to D-day, I prepared him for the idea of going to the new place. He seemed very excited. The night before, we were signing the paperwork, and g decided to take one of the sheets and write up his own "contrac" So I asked him what he wrote and he responded that "I wrote: I promise to have lots of fun at Cindys, make lots of new friends, listen to her and be nice to the doggie" And then pointed to a scribble in the bottom right corner and said "SIGNED: Garett" hahaha..So funny.
Tyler dropped him off that morning, and I called him later in the morning to see how it went. He said he was chatty from the moment he walked in the door. But when he realized Tyler was leaving, there was a bit of commotion, but no tears. She doesn't usually make contact through the day, but she went out of her way to send me a quick message saying "Garett is having a wonderful day. No tears this morning--sat on my lap for maybe 5 minutes and then wanted to get up and meet his three new friends and play. He is all smiles and giggles"...That really helped me get through those last few hours at work!
Come lunch time, she put on a show for them while she prepared the food, and she said she looked over and Garett was cuddled up to his new best friend. That little boy and Garett proceeded to talk about each other to their parents all night. How cute. Nothing like easing a mothers worries like a new friend on day 1!
This daycare has weekly themes, with corresponding crafts, stories, activities, toys, etc. When we came, the theme was "safety week", so they are learning about firemen, street lights, police officers, etc--and holy, win my child over. They have all the costumes out to play with, and everyday I show up, he's dressed up as something different and has big open arms and a smile on to greet me. LOVE IT.
Another thing she does that I love , love, LOVE is daily activity reports. She tells us what he ate for each meal (theres snacks of fruits, veggies, cheese, etc at snack time, but apparently snacks are never an issue lol), if he slept, what she needs from us supply wise, if he went to the bathroom, his mood through the day, etc..I find it to be really great because I don't like to ask a ton of questions when I pick him up, and he has a very active imagination, so sometimes he will tell me he ate ice cream for breakfast, and I don't know what to believe. I am keeping them all and going to make a book for him so he can read through them when he's older :)
The house:
Some pictures of her basement "classroom" area. They also have a play zone on the main floor, and the top floor. A fenced in yard, and live on a crescent, so they draw on the driveway quite often as well lol
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