Ups and Downs

I seem to have the mistaken notion that if the kids have a good evening they will have a good day the next day. NOT! On Monday evening, I took them to buy a waterslide. I had promised them one when I got my tax refund and kept waiting for the durn things to go on sale in mid to late August like they usually do. I never could find one on sale so I used a 20% Toys 'r Us discount coupon and bought a nice one. The kids were thrilled and begged me to let them try it out on Monday night. So, even though it was getting dark by the time we finished dinner, I told them they could slide for about 20 minutes. It was so neat to see them so happy and enjoying something so simple....and I'm thinking life is good, the kids are happy, this is a good substitute for a vacation, etc. About 10 minutes into their happy play, we see lightening and Charlie tells everyone to stop playing in the water (he's learning!). So, they willingly get out and as we were going into the house they asked if I would pick them up from daycare early on Tuesday so that they would have more time to play on the water slide. I tell them I would try... and then they are so amazingly good for the remainder of the evening and go to bed without any difficulty. Sweet little children they are, I'm thinking. I should've known something was lurking...

I arrived at the daycare Tuesday evening to pick them up, not early since it was overcast and a little too cool to play on the waterslide. One of their teachers asks to speak to me and shoos my kids away while she talks to me (bad omen). It turns out that Charlie spent most of the afternoon hitting people without provocation ... just walking up to them and hitting them. The teacher confronted him about it and he lied saying the children had hit him first which she knew wasn't true because she witnessed everything. So, he spent some time by himself but everytime she would allow him to rejoin the group he was hitting again. Marcie also hit a child in the 4 year old classroom (Marcie has the remainder of this week with that group). She walked up to the child and socked her hard in the deltoid area leaving a bruise. This is a new child to the daycare and I've noticed that she seems to go to Marcie for answers to questions (like the names of other children or teachers). Evidently, though, she was not even playing with Marcie when Marcie went over to her and hit her. Marcie also at some point started screaming for the teacher to call me to come and pick them up and was sassy and disrespectful with several of the teachers. So, the teacher that Marcie is most attached to (who is also a friend of ours) put her in time out and when Marcie still didn't behave, she made Marcie write sentences. (I can't wait to see those!) I also found out that Kyle wet his pants in the morning (he is usually dry until late afternoon) and he was disruptive at nap time.

I can't figure it out...they got what they wanted Monday night and they are thrilled with it, behave really well.... and the devil comes out on Tuesday. I told them maybe we should take the waterslide back and Marcie says we can't because we took it out of the box (smart aleck!)...so, I said we could give it to someone like maybe one of the children they were hitting. And to beat it all, I can't even really deny them playing time on it in the immediate future because it will be raining in the evenings the rest of the week. By the time I can use not playing on it as a punishment, it will be too far after the fact. I hope the little monsters get it together today. I hate the "I need to talk to you" message when I arrive at the daycare!

Milestone

Yesterday, I realized that I have reached a parenting milestone. I was reviewing a class assignment with my students that requires them to find a child between the ages of 12 and 48 months and perform a Denver assessment on the child. Every semester we usually have a few students who do not know any families with young children in the Richmond area so they ask the faculty for help. For the last 6.5 years, I've been able to offer one of my children for the assignment (of course, then, I would not be the grader!). When I started to say that I have a child in that age range, I stopped short realizing that Kyle was 4 on Aug. 17th, just leaving the 12 - 48 months age range. Wow. I now have 2 preschoolers and 2 school-age children. I wonder if I'll know how to act now?!!

Busted!

Discipline is most effective when done immediately after the infraction, but usually when something has happened at daycare I hear about it too late to do anything about it. Wednesday, I got lucky or Joanna got unlucky, whichever way you want to look at it! Joanna has boundary issues and some social immaturity. Recently at daycare she's been a little too touchy-feely with the other children either by using her hands to touch them or by pressing her body up to theirs. The teacher told me that some of the children were clearly upset by this and they didn't know quite how to handle it. Apparently, the teachers tell her to stop and she either giggles or just doesn't respond. They then move her away from the situation but I guess she just finds another child to aggravate. Wednesday morning, I dropped Joanna off in her 4 year old classroom and Kyle in his 3 year old room (he can't move to the 4's until he keeps his pants dry -- I guess that may happen by the time he graduates from high school!). I took Marcie and Charlie to the school-age child room and chatted with that teacher while I fixed Marcie's hair. When I took Marcie back to the 4 year old room and opened the door, I saw Joanna with her body pressed up to a little boy whose back was to her and his face was practically against the wall. She was putting her arm around his chest when I sternly said, "Joanna!" She quickly stepped away and whirled around to look at me. I ordered her to come to me and had to repeat that about 4 times because she did not want to come across that room. The teacher said she had already told Joanna to stop and Joanna hadn't responded. I took that little girl out to my car and gave her the fire and brimstone talk (well, not exactly but she knew I was MAD) and told her that she has to do what her teachers tell her and that she may not touch the other children. I reiterated "NO TOUCH" several times and then cornered her so that she couldn't move and pointed out that that does not feel good. She agreed with that point and repeated to me "no touching." Of course, she was also crying pretty hard after this. I think she got the message because she was much better behaved the rest of the day and all day Thursday. We'll see how long that lasts!

Well Child Care

Kyle had his 4 year old well child check-up on Wednesday afternoon. He was in his usual, goofy mood, and, of course, didn't perform like I wanted him to. For example, he knows how to write the first letter of his name, and he just chose to be silly when I asked him to do it. So, I gave in to goofiness and just tried to make him behave. When it came time for his immunizations, he wasn't exactly sure what would happen, so he just watched. After the first 2 shots, he seemed a bit more apprehensive but had not cried at all (he thinks all shots are kind of like his insulin shots). After the 3rd shot, he was getting a little tired of the whole thing but with his 4th shot, he really felt the sting (the MMR). He wailed as though his heart were broken for maybe a minute and a half, then was soothed by the "treasures" he was given. He was still missing one thing, though, and that was a sticker. He was happy as a clam when we left because he had 2 new little toys and a sticker (yes, he's easy to please!). When we got back to the daycare center to pick up the other 3 kids, I asked him to tell the teachers what happened at his doctor's appointment. He put on his little pouty face and in a very sad voice slowly said, "They shot me." It was all very pitiful. :)

I'm Not Making the Kids Happy

I think I've created little restaurant junkies. Nearly every day when I pick them up from daycare, at least one of them will ask, "Where are we going tonight?" We had gotten away from the at least once a week trips to someplace to eat dinner because I just didn't have the money for all of that dining out. Then, I got my tax refund and we have eaten out a little more often. Now the kids just don't want to eat at home. Their favorite restaurant is CiCi's which is a pizza, pasta and salad buffet with all kinds of candy and trinket "machines" in the back (along with a few arcade games). However, they also like any fast food hamburger place, Applebee's and O'Charley's, which Charlie thinks is named after him. These past 2 mornings Charlie asked if we could go to "Pizza Hunt" tonight because the last time we went we didn't have Marcie with us. Yesterday morning I said no and he stormed off angry. Today I just said, "I'll think about it," and he seemed satisfied. I guess if I could win the lottery we could eat out every day, but that's not the healthiest option or the most likely one. What am I going to do with these little people?!!