Friday, April 24, 2009

He's just a little feller

Scene: Dropping Little Bit off at daycare

DH says, "Son, you need to leave your toys in the car. (points to front door of daycare) Miss Donna* put up a sign that says everyone has to leave their toys at home."

Little Bit considers this.
"Let's pretend it says 'yes'!"

DH quickly says, "OK. Then we'll pretend we took the toys inside."

Little Bit considers this...hrmmmm...then, he leaves his toys in the car.

*We live in the South, ya'll. All the daycare teachers are addressed as Miss Donna, Miss Kate, etc. Little Bit is also taught to say "Yes, ma'am" or "Yes, sir" as appropriate.

---------------------
I'm way behind on reading/commenting on the usual blogs I read, and of course I haven't posted much lately. There's only so much "free" time in the day; lately I've been reading personal finance blogs and getting lots of good ideas about being frugal and tricks to keep on budget, and so on. Either that or trying to catch up on the DVR'ed shows recorded while we watch the evening cartoons with Little Bit.

Little Bit is staying up later than he probably should. We let him watch his favorite cartoons on Noggin, which end at 8pm. By the time we get him to sleep, it can be past 8:30pm. That doesn't leave much evening. Last night we actually got him into bed and asleep by 7:30pm. He had quite a day though. He woke up feeling out of sorts, wanting to gather all his toys and things around himself on the couch. He really didn't want to go to daycare; he seemed like he might have a bit of a bug. So, he got to stay home with DH for some extra attention. When he felt better in the afternoon, they played outside for awhile. Unfortunately, Little Bit got really overheated very quickly. He has my fair skin, but he also has a high normal body temperature, and his face broke out in a heat rash.

This morning, Little Bit broke my heart protesting getting dressed to go to daycare. He kept crying for me to come hold him, while DH tried to put on a fresh pull-up.

Little Bit yelled, "No pull-up! I baby!"

:-( It broke my heart. He's been feeling insecure I think. I would imagine it's rough trying to dance along that line between wanting to get out and explore and wanting to be held close and safe by mom and dad. In another 10 years or so, we'll get to go through his puberty. Wheeeeee.

DH and I are thinking about taking Little Bit out of daycare part-time. That way he can get more one-on-one attention from his dad. Socialization is good, but he's only almost three. He's just a little feller.

1 comment:

DH said...

As a follow-up: we talked to the daycare folks, getting their advice on how best to give Little Bit what he needs. After all, they've raised thousands of kids, and we value their opinions (even though ultimately we make the choices about what to do with our own child).

We considered leaving things as they are (5 days of full-time daycare); going to a 3- or 2-day schedule of daycare (home the other days); going to a half-day schedule; or pulling him from daycare.

Starting on Monday we'll be switching Little Bit to half-days at daycare, 5 days a week. That way he will continue to get the socialization and learning that they can give him; he'll get a regular schedule that isn't changing so much he can't keep track of it; and he'll get a whole afternoon of one-on-one Daddy Time, five days a week. Hopefully it will be the best of both worlds, and give him what he needs.

We're planning to do this at least through the summer, or until I get full time work again, whichever comes first. The neighborhood park is just 3 blocks away, with wonderful swing sets, slides, and such. And in a few weeks the pool will be open. I'll be able to teach him to swim. (Yes, I'm trained to do that.) It should be a glorious summer, lots of good memories for us both, and hopefully less stress and more reassurance in Little Bit's life.

We'll see. Wish us luck. :-)