A Free Spirited Afternoon

Most of my Saturday came and went in a blur. It was 4 p.m. before I knew it, and time to get D from his Dad. We meet 'in the middle' of our two residences at the High High Country Store. I pulled in front of the new addition, the Bogati Bodega. I had just received a hateful text message from my ex for pulling into the parking lot 3 minutes late. That kind of thing gets under my skin and I felt my evening unraveling, as a sweaty, cranky toddler approached my car. There were no niceties, and he sped off before I even had the car door closed. I was about to pull out when I realized the car beside belong the guitar teacher at my school. I looked around for him, and saw him in front of the Bodega catching a smoke break. His band was playing at the tasting room. I wanted to stay, but I couldn't imagine a dog (I doggie-sat Stella this weekend) and a toddler in a wine tasting room would work - "Come on," he said "you're a free spirited kinda gal." I am???? He helped me unload the kid, dog, and diaper bag.

The tasting room is lovely, with a few couches, a large dining table, and several smaller tables. We claimed a spot on the couch, I got myself a glass of white, and some water for D. In the back of my mind, I was just waiting for it to all go to hell - but it didn't! Daniel and Stella wandered around, charming every person in the place. He clapped and cheered yelling "guitar! yay!" He held Stella's leash tight, and everyone in the place seemed to be fans of dogs (and toddlers!). After a few minutes, I felt the tension in my shoulders dissipate and my mind was at ease. Maybe it was the wine, or the maybe it was the unscheduled downtime...whatever it was, it felt good. As the band closed out their final set, the sky opened up and the rain poured down. Daniel was excited - so out we went, me in a dress and flip flops, him holding tight to the dog - running out to the car in downpour, splashing in every puddle we could find.

We climbed into the car, soaked and laughing...I guess when prompted, I am free spirited!

Daycare provider, take 3

I hope to hold true to my tag line and that soon enough, I can claim "triumph" over childcare.

D's first sitter was my dear friend Ms. E. She is my dear friend who was (and still is) able to stay home with her daughter. As my maternity leave drew to a close, all I could think was how perfect it would be if D stayed with her. I had joked with her about it, but had no idea it would come to fruition. It was a match made in heaven, until we had to move away.

I moved closer to work - which is 45 miles from my previous residence and a seriously steep increase in cost of living. We were leaving behind D's father and his paternal grandmother who occassionaly cared for him. I was terrified about trying to find ANYBODY I could afford, let alone somebody who would actually be good for us. My wonderful friend Ms. E made a few calls, and found a friend of hers in the area who was recently 'retired' from a daycare center and is now staying home with HER daughter. For over a year it was basically a match made in heaven. But the spring brought us a rocky road, and ended in us parting ways abruptly. Long story short, D was no longer a good fit for their family. Discipline issues had returned.

D is now with Ms A, the mother of one of my students. She is a wonderful woman, in her 50's with a sincere love for D and his well being. He is an angel for her (of course) and is gleefully spoiled by being the only child under her care. She used to run a licensed day care with a head start program, so he is getting lots of structured learning activities. His behavior with me, however, has not improved...I would go so far as to say it has declined.

I'm being patient - as this has been a HUGE transition for him, and he asks often about his previous sitter and her family. He is also either getting a nasty sinus infection, or 2 year molars. Hard to tell. Regardless, it has been a rough week, and I'm exhausted. I'll be anxious to see how things go as my schedule at school thins down to nothing :-) I'm also excited that my sweet, loving, godmother/aunt has gotten us the 1-2-3 books! Soooo excited. I have heard from a few parents that it works. I'm hoping for some real-life examples, and some "if child does A, then parent does B" advice.

In all the chaos of the past week though, D has created his first painted masterpiece. He is SO in love with his creation. He insisted on carrying it down 3 flights of steps from daycare, held it in the care the whole way home, and only surrendered it to me for careful placement above the fire place. The medium is finger paint, done in red to celebrate "RED WEEK" at daycare. Enjoy!