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....

Baby's First Shoes

Nicholas got his first pair of shoes today. I was out shopping at lunch and popped into the nearby Gymboree. They are having a great sale, and lots of the summer stuff is 40% off. I picked up the CUTEST outfits for Nick -- with sailboats, so Daddy loved them, of course. He wore his one shirt to the Flying Scot regatta at Cowan Lake a few weeks back.

Anyway, I thought I should get some shoes for Nicholas, even though he isn't really walking. He can scoot around furniture and will walk if you hold his hands. But he hasn't learned to balance that big noggin just yet.

I had to guess at the size, since he wasn't there. I went with 4 and bought some cute summer shoes. He can wear them in the water, so they will be great at the ocean.

Got them home and thought I'd try putting them on him while he was busy stuffing his face with veggie poofs.

Oh my GOD! You would have thought I was beating the poor child, he was crying so hard. The shoes seemed to fit, so I don't know WHAT was wrong. I guess he doesn't like shoes -- which means he is so not related to me or my younger brother.....Curt might have had more shoes than Imelda Marcos at one point.....

Anyway, Andy got home last night, and I showed him the shoes. We are going to take the Pickle to the mall tonight and try fitting shoes on him and see how it goes. Maybe the 4s are too small, or maybe they were pinching his toes or maybe he just didn't like them. Don't know. But he's going to have to learn to wear shoes at some point!