Do you remember when we first placed Snuggle Bug into daycare and I felt like I was trying to avoid having a panic attack over it? Once he started we survived the first day and then the first week but barely.

Well, we somehow managed to survive 6 months of Snuggle Bug being in daycare. His last day was on 10 December and I've been meaning to post about it since then but just haven't gotten around to it. I was reminded of it by reading another post on the topic of daycare.

So, I'd like to share some things I learned by having Snuggle Bug in daycare.

1) Snuggle Bug never really grew to love daycare as I've heard some kids do. He tolerated it. He had days when he wouldn't cry at drop-off and days when he would. We never knew what to expect because this went on the entire 6 months he was in daycare. Interestingly enough, there were days that we'd come to pick him up and he'd not be ready to go home. We'd have to wait until he was finished with snack or a project or allow him time to go from room to room to say his "goodbyes" before he'd willingly walk out the door.

2) Snuggle Bug does well in a structured environment. He listens to the instructions of other adults. He plays nicely with other children. He ate more things at daycare than he ever has for us here at home (he's a picky eater). He laid down on his little cot and took naps each day with no arguments. I'm actually glad to learn that Snuggle Bug does well in a structured environment. I'll be a little less stressed now when he starts Kindergarten because I know he'll be fine.

3) Snuggle Bug is good at making friends. He had about 2 or 3 kids in daycare that he gravitated towards and played with but he was friendly with almost everyone in the daycare center. We learned that he stuck mostly with the quiet kids in his room (stands to reason since he's a rather quiet kid himself) and avoided the rowdy, mischievous boys. What amazed us is that he remembered the names of every child in his room, and most of the children in the 4-5 year old room that he liked to visit whenever possible. We were at a restaurant one evening and Snuggle Bug stood up in his chair and yelled, "Colin!" and started to wave. We looked around and couldn't figure out who he was yelling to. Then we say a little boy waving back to him from across the room. On our way out we stopped and learned that Colin was a boy in his class whom Snuggle Bug recognized. We had this happen in a grocery store too and we parents just grinned as Snuggle Bug and another little boy greeted each other with a hug. Talk about cute!

4) Snuggle Bug knows most of his colors. The first time his "teacher" told me that Snuggle Bug knew all of his colors we I said, "Are you sure, because at home every color is blue?!" Apparently he's been fooling us all this time because in daycare they had to ask him to stop participating in a color naming activity because he kept shouting out the correct colors before any other child could make a guess.

5) Snuggle Bug does not follow blindly. One of the things I worried about the most is that Snuggle Bug would be a follower and pick up many bad habits (and phrases) from other children in his room. I worried that his personality would change (not for the better) as a result of being in daycare. I needn't have worried because he's still our sweet little boy. He did come home with new words and phrases but thankfully none of them were inappropriate. He wasn't lead blindly by the "troublesome" children (as we were told by his teacher). He avoided them and went his own way. Any temperament changes we saw at home were a result of him being 2, going on 3, and wanting to exert his independence. He's still a happy, well-adjusted little boy how likes to do things himself.

6) Snuggle Bug is a survivor. It was clear from day one that Snuggle Bug was less than thrilled to be going to daycare. We stressed the entire time he was in there and Oronozo and I juggled our work schedules as much as possible so he was never there for 40 hours a week. But in the end, Snuggle Bug adapted to his new surroundings and survived. Amazingly, we survived too!

In the end, while we're thankful he's out of daycare and back as a SAHK with Oronzo caring for him, we don't regret our difficult decision to place him in daycare. Having Oronzo work that contract job outside of the home for 6 months allowed us to build up a nice cushion of savings so that when there are lean months, as happens when running your own consulting business, we'll have savings to draw on to get us through. Having this savings gives us peace of mind and allows us to know that we can provide for our family through thick and thin.

We are thankful that Oronzo is back to working from home because not only does Snuggle Bug get to stay at home with Daddy, but so does Baby Bug and any other foster children that come our way. Knowing that most of the foster children we take in will be coming from distressed circumstances, it's important to us to be able to care for them at home, so that they can have consistent one-on-one attention.

So, there you have it, the conclusion to our daycare saga. Thanks for all the supportive comments that were offered along the way. We survived and learned a lot along the way!

Labels: daycare, family, foster children, fostering, Snuggle Bug

Snuggle Bug survived his first week of daycare and, by default, so did we. It started out to be a rough week. This daycare thing is not for the faint of heart and it's caused our hearts much pain and sorrow.

This first 3 days last week, Snuggle Bug cried every day that we've dropped him off. In fact, some mornings he cried when we put him in the car and would say, "No go sool" (which means, "No go to school"). He's also said, "Daddy no go work." and "Mommy, get back here." as I'm walking away and leaving him in the daycare center.

The mornings I tried to keep our parting brief were ugly. I had to peel him off of me, as he's crying and screaming, and hand him over to the teacher and then walk away with the sound of his hysterical sobbing ringing in my ears. Needless to say, I was crying as well as I got to my car and drove to work.

Wednesday I tried a different approach, against the advice of many others who have been there, done that. I brought Snuggle Bug in to his classroom and instead of handing him over and quickly exiting, I asked him to show me the building blocks that I'm told he likes. I carried him over to the blocks and sat down with him in my lap and played with him for 10 minutes or so before leaving. When I told him I had to go to work, his little lip quivered and his eyes filled with tears. The teacher came over and got him and he started crying, but it wasn't the full-on hystrical sobbing that it had been the other days. Thursday worked the same way. Friday, Oronzo dropped him off and went in and played with him a bit before heading to work and it helped again.

Every day last week I called to check on him and I was always told the same thing, "He's having a good day, really. He's playing with blocks and he went down the slide. He's not crying."

As much as we dislike having Snuggle Bug in daycare, it hasn't been all bad. He's making new little friends. There's one little boy in particular that he plays with a lot, or so I'm told.

The daycare seems to do a pretty good job of keeping the kids busy with various activities. Last week they made raindrops, worked on colors and shapes, talked about sea creatures and water, and did some painting.


The "classroom" itself is full of projects that the kids have completed, although I have to wonder how much of the work was actually done by the kids and how much was done by the teacher.

Snuggle Bug's favorite activity is the painting. Kindercare sent him home with one of his projects that he did on Friday and we're going to include it in a packet that we send to Oronzo's mom for her birthday.

So, the bottom line is that our first week with Snuggle Bug in daycare wasn't fun, but we survived and I'm hopeful that things will get better with time.

And now, I leave you with a Carrie Underwood song that I have on my iPod nano that has brought comfort to me throughout this whole daycare ordeal because I'm trying to turn all of this over to Jesus.

Oh, and stay tuned for some adoption related posts this week. I have much to share with you, if you're interested!

Labels: daycare, faith, Oronzo, Snuggle Bug

Well, we survived Snuggle Bug's first full day in daycare yesterday.

Snuggle Bug cried and screamed when Oronzo dropped him off yesterday morning. Oronzo headed to work feeling horrible.

Later, I called the daycare and checked to see how Snuggle Bug was doing. The director said he had cried for about 10 minutes and then a 4-year old little girl, Jade, asked him to play and he was distracted. He didn't cry again the rest of the day.

Snuggle Bug spent the day playing with the building blocks with two little boys his age. He had fun playing outside, especially on the slide. He took a nap when it was time (clutching tightly his pillow, bunny, and blanket), although he took a while to get to sleep. He was too busy looking around at first. He even ate the meals served.

Thanks again, everyone, for your supportive comments and prayers! It's hard to express how much that's meant to me!

I'll keep you all posted on how he does this week.

When I arrived to pick him up, he'd just woken up from his nap and was standing near his little sleeping mat. When he saw me walk in the door, he raced across the room and threw himself in my arms. It felt so good to hug him close to me and know that he was safe!

Snuggle Bug was a bit quiet a first when we got in the car. He asked, "Where Daddy go?" I explained that Daddy was still at work and would be home in a couple of hours.

I took Snuggle Bug for a walk in his stroller and then he helped me pull weeds in the front yard. When Oronzo arrived home, Snuggle Bug didn't rush to greet him. Oronzo had to swoop him up for a hug and kiss. Fickle child. :)

So, yesterday was a slight relief from our worries. I'll be the one dropping Snuggle Bug off at daycare later this morning. I'm not looking forward to that! Picking him up is so much more enjoyable.

Labels: daycare, faith, family, Oronzo, Snuggle Bug

In exactly 2 hours, Oronzo will be dropping Snuggle Bug off for his first full day of daycare. It's going to be brutal on all of us!

Last Thursday Oronzo took Snuggle Bug into the daycare and, for the first time, dropped him off for a trail run of a couple of hours. Snuggle Bug sobbed when he figured out Ornozo was leaving. Oronzo said he felt as though his heart was being ripped out of his chest. We learned that Snuggle Bug cried off and on the entire 2 hours there. We felt horrible about it!

Friday Oronzo took him again for another short drop off. This time, Snuggle Bug began sobbing the minute they pulled into the daycare parking lot. He started screaming as Oronzo walked in with him and Oronzo had to literally peel Snuggle Bug off of him to hand him over to the teacher so that he could leave. Oronzo called me from his car on the way out, near tears himself, telling me he's not sure this job is worth what we're putting Snuggle Bug through. He said he felt like a failure as a father! Although my heart was breaking, I encouraged Oronozo to hang in there and give it a bit of time to see if eventually Snuggle Bug was able to adjust and enjoy himself.

I called the daycare center on Friday about an hour after Oronzo dropped Snuggle Bug off. I spoke with the director and learned that he had been crying off and on but the class did a painting project and that captured his attention so he stopped crying to participate. She told me at that very moment he was sitting on the floor playing with another boy and building blocks and he wasn't crying. That made me feel a little better.

When Oronzo arrived to pick Oronzo up on Friday, he looked in the window and watched for about 5 minutes as Snuggle Bug played with containers of water that the teacher had set out for the kids. He wasn't crying and seemed to be doing okay. When he noticed Oronzo in the window, he about bowled over the other kids in his efforts to throw himself in Oronzo's arms as quickly as possible.

Today...well I fully expect today to be ugly. Oronzo will be starting a new job that he's not sure he should be doing anymore, since this transition to daycare is proving to be so difficult to his family.

Oronzo will be dropping Snuggle Bug off at 7 a.m. and I'll be picking him up at 2:30 p.m. I pray with all my heart that Snuggle Bug will survive an entire day there without us. I pray that the teacher will follow my list of "Snuggle Bug instructions" that I typed out and left to be posted in his classroom. I'm sure they think I'm a crazy, overprotective Mama to have made a list, but I don't care. I want them to know his preferences (i.e. he must have his blanket, pillow, and bunny at naptime or he'll flip out and he needs sunscreen and a hat each time he goes outside to play because he burns easily).

Anyway, thank you all for your supportive comments and prayers last week. I can't tell you how much I appreciated each and every one. I've been so stressed out about all of this that it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about what we're putting our baby through.

It's only temporary. It's only temporary. It's only temporary.

Please keep us in your prayers! We desperately need them this week.

P.S. To the ladies who participated in last Friday's Favorite Ingredients Friday recipe exchange, I was spending every precious moment with Snuggle Bug this past weekend so I haven't had the time yet to look at all your recipes. I will try to get that done one night this week. Thanks so much for your participation!

Labels: daycare, faith, family, Oronzo, Snuggle Bug

Snuggle Bug is going into daycare, starting Monday. Well, actually, Oronzo is taking him in today and tomorrow for a couple of hours in the morning to get him acclimated.

It hasn't even happened yet and I'm already a basket case! I practically started crying when I spoke with the daycare director Tuesday morning. The part where I explained that he's been a stay-at-home kid for most of his life (all 2 ½ years of it) got me all choked up.

We're putting our baby into daycare. Our gentle, somewhat timid baby is going to have to be in a small room with eight other 2 years olds and he's going to have to learn to fend for himself, to an extent. The thought terrifies me!

Thankfully, for my sanity, this is a temporary situation. Oronzo has been offered a 3 to 4 month contract job that he's not going to be able to work on from home. He'll have to work full-time hours at a company that's about an hour drive from our house. The good news is that he's getting nearly $50/hour to do this job, plus time and a half if he has to work overtime.

Over the next several months, with our combined income, we'll be able to finish paying off debt, stash more money away into savings, and even get some home improvement projects done around our house.

We've decided that the long term benefits of the salary generated from this temporary job will outweigh the short term drawbacks (Snuggle Bug having to go to daycare, Oronzo not being able to spend each weekday with his son, the long commute Oronzo will have to make to work, etc).

It's only temporary. It's only temporary. It's only temporary.

This chant keeps running through my mind and I'm holding on to the thought for dear life! And if things aren't working out, we can pull Snuggle Bug out and go back to the way it is now, right?

I'm sure you'll be seeing more frantic posts on this subject of daycare in the future.

Supportive comments would be most appreciated!

Labels: daycare, family, Oronzo, Snuggle Bug