The Woes of Daycare

Pink Eye and Sore Throats and Bites, oh my! The woes of daycare. My son has been in daycare since I returned to work after maternity leave. He started part time but then moved to full time. I think that was tougher on ME than him.....

Within the first week, he had pink eye, though. He's had it two more times since then. I'm in my late 30s, and I have NEVER had pink eye...how is that possible? A baby less than 1 has pink eye three times compared to a grown adult who has never had it....?

He's also had multiple colds and boog noses. Those are fun....cleaning the dried, crispy snot from around his nose, because they didn't do it at daycare.

Then, there's the biting. He's been bitten 3 or 4 times. The first time it happened, I was given an "incident report" and told what happened. I wasn't told WHO bit my son. I was told this was "normal" for children of this age. Okay.....

The second time it happened, I asked, "Was it the same child....?" Oh no, no.....I was assured it was not the same baby.

The third time it happened I also wasn't given many details. I guess my son went to bear hug another child and got a chomp on his arm. None of these bites broke the skin, and they healed within days. Nick seemed fine, and he wasn't biting or hitting back [good boy! He's been taught some manners!]. Again, we let it go.

By the fourth time, I was really starting to wonder why my son seemed to be a chew toy in his class! I mean, is he so sweet that the like to chew on him???? So, really.....what's the deal? And who was doing the biting?

Well, I sweet talked my way into the answers. The girls who run his room finally admitted to me that one little girl seemed to be the culprit. Ironically, this little toddler was just brought into the room by another caregiver. After I told her how much I liked the flowers on her shoes, I asked her to only kiss and love Nick and not bite him anymore.

Every time I see her, she now comes over and shows me her shoes with the pink flowers. And so far....no more bites from her! Even though she didn't REALLY understand what I was saying, maybe she just understood enough....