Friday 28 August 2015

Back to work: Jimmy's first week at daycare...


Or "school", as they call it...

This story really starts on the Friday before Jimmy started full-time at school. Friday morning, around 9am, after taking the above photo, I took Jimmy to school, told him I would pick him up after lunch, made sure that he was suitably engaged in something and left. Naturally, I did leave a few supplies for the "teachers", a change of clothes, a few nappies diapers, and a change of shoes because you never know.


Two hours without Jimmy... what was I to do? Meh, some chores. Meanwhile, Jimmy was having a great time "mowing" the lawn.


When I walked in while they were eating lunch, Jimmy didn't notice me. I sat down opposite him and saw his tired little face. Then he looked at me...

"It's Mummy."

No tears of relief, no jumping into my lap. None of that. He kept eating, asked for more food, ate that. He was fairly hungry it seemed. Hungry and tired and happy. He slept for nearly 3 hours when we returned home.


When I sat next to him I noticed that yes, his shoes had been changed. I also remember how small those shoes were getting, which is why we had an adventure the next day.


In addition to that adventure, there was a pillow to make, spare clothes to organise, sunscreen to decant (they didn't need the whole bottle), a packet of pull-up nappies diapers to pack... And a little boy to make a fuss over, so that he knew that he is loved even if he's not around us.


I mostly made a fuss about the pillow and the fact that it was for his naps, that I was making it especially for him, and that it has a cool feature or two. Don't worry, I think I managed not to overwhelm my little boy.


Jimmy knew something was up on Monday morning. He wasn't sure what to make of all the fuss we were making, trying to get him ready and out the door at the same time as Daddy. When we arrived, all 3 of us, he did his best to follow us out, saying that he wanted to go into the area we had to walk through to leave the building. There were a few tears, but I was told that he settled down after 5-10 minutes. When we picked Jimmy up, he looked over his shoulder and, after being questioned by a teacher, said:

"It's Daddy."

And kept doing what he was doing. Then he saw me.

"It's Mummy."

No fuss. Clearly he had had a good day.

The next morning was the real test. And he didn't want to go through the door. He was not having a bar of it. But Michael and I managed to get him into his room. We managed to say bye-bye without tears and the second Jimmy was distracted, we ran for it. 


When I picked him up that afternoon I was met with the same level of cool recognition. Clearly another good day. I think the highlight was painting "dinosaur skin", because Jimmy has never painted before - I take full responsibility for that.

Wednesday? Jimmy woke up and started talking about paint and painting - clearly it was an exciting event. Another thing Jimmy likes is riding Daddy's bike, and he wanted to ride it to school, but Daddy was in a rush, so that didn't happen. From memory the drop off went well. Michael did indeed pick Jimmy up that afternoon and Jimmy did get to ride on Daddy's bike. So far, so good.

Thursday... Well... Daddy was under instructions to have Jimmy in his swimming gear at drop off because they would be playing with water that morning. Well... Jimmy was most put out by this change in routine. Oh man... it was a struggle to get him into his swimmers and out the door, but we did it. And the Jimmy and I arrived and it turned out that they weren't even sure that they would be doing anything with water, especially as it was a cool morning. Well... all that fuss and bother for nothing... I changed Jimmy into normal clothes, including his fruit shorts, which he had been wearing all week, because they are his favourite shorts. And after a few minutes Jimmy was into the swing of it, and he even blew me a kiss and waved bye-bye. Sweet, sweet boy. 

Daddy picked him up again. And they had played with water! And Jimmy was so, so tired. He wasn't interested in his dinner. He was keen to vacuum. He was not going to have a bath or a shower, nope, no chance. I managed to brush his teeth and then he was in bed by 8pm, which for summer is unheard of. He was exhausted. And running a little hot... 

But on Friday morning Jimmy woke up and was kicking his legs about and asking to watch Gummi Bears. He wasn't sick. Just worn out. Phew... Friday's drop off was rather long... I don't know why, but it was. It might have had a lot to do with me not leaving at exactly the same time as Daddy, or it could have been that Jimmy was just over it. Overtired. Overwhelmed by the week. Over being away from Mummy. Over it. But I managed to leave and he wasn't crying, so that was good.

I told his teachers that I was going to pick him up early, so when I did arrive Jimmy was wearing his backpack and hat and ready to go home - the night before I had decided that if Jimmy wasn't sick, then I would pick him up early, after naptime, and we could watch Gummi Bears and eat popcorn at home. And we did. 

Jimmy seemed to enjoy school, and even though he was tired for most of the week, and wasn't happy to see us leave each morning, I think he enjoyed himself. It's now nearly the end of his second week and he seems to be fairly settled into the daycare, which is great, because Jimmy really didn't have much choice but to like it. So, we're good. At least as far as daycare choice.

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