New Childcare

Isaac had a major life change today. He changed caregivers. When I reflect on the events of last week at his daycare, I really can't come up with a word to describe it. Let's just say I was angry. So angry, in fact, that I didn't send him to daycare on Friday. Instead, my grandmother stayed at our house and watched him for us while we were at work.

I mentioned on my blog last week that I was a bit irritated, because I thought the daycare workers would transition Isaac more slowly than they did. I was making an effort to be positive, because at the time I did not have any other childcare options. In reality, I was more than a bit irritated.

I was upset that the daycare told us they would do one thing and then did the complete opposite. Instead of letting him ease into the one year old room, they put him over there in the morning so the baby room wouldn't be so crowded. I can only assume that the motivation for this was money. So money was put ahead of the best interests of my child.

When I picked up Isaac, he did act fine. However, he had only been changed three times. I was told this was because he took a two and a half hour nap, but I saw on his daily sheet that he went three hours between diaper changes in the morning. In addition, when I arrived at 4, he had not been fed anything since 11:20. The daycare failed to inform me that they would not follow his feeding plan when he moved up and that lunch would be at 11 instead of 12. I did not send a snack, because I didn't know he'd need one. Rather than call me to find out if it was ok for them to give him a snack (other than what the other babies were eating, because he can't have cookies yet), they just didn't feed him anything else.

Also, they took him outside that morning. When Wes left to take Isaac to daycare, it was 34 degrees outside. When I called in the morning to find out how his day was going, I was told that his class was outside. It was in the low 40s at that time. I did not send his hat or gloves, because I knew his infant teachers wouldn't take him out in that kind of weather. His jacket had a (loose-fitting) hood on it, and we figured he'd be fine from the car to the daycare. So imagine my dismay when I am told that my 10 month old baby is outside, sitting in a sandbox. They'd put another pair of socks on him and told me I might want to send shoes the next day so his feet wouldn't be cold. Shoes? He's not even walking yet.

The nail in the coffin came on Wednesday. I arrived earlier than normal to pick him up, and his class was outside. Isaac and another baby who's not walking were sitting on a blanket, and I noticed that his hand was near his mouth. I squinted, wondering, What's he got? As I got closer, I realized that he was chewing on a woodchip. A WOODCHIP. They had placed the blanket near a big pile of them, and Isaac had gotten hold of one. I was told earlier in the week that they always keep the babies who aren't walking "right by them the whole time," but such was not the case that afternoon. One of his teachers was inside, and the other one was out there with all five of the babies by herself. No one was by him, and no one had any idea that he was chewing on a piece of wood. He could've choked on that and died before they ever realized what was going on.

I brought it to both teachers' attention, and I talked to the director about it the next day. The response? The girl had talked to the director, told her what happened, and said that I would probably call. Probably? Um, definitely. Well, she said that she had just been by Isaac and had walked away for a minute to go push another baby on the swing. My response to that was, "Well, it only takes a minute for something to happen. I'm a teacher, so I realize that it's hard to watch every child every second, but knowing that is not going to make me feel any better if something happens to him while he's there."

That night, I talked to both my parents and grandmother about it. The more I dwelled on it, the madder I got. My mom called a friend of hers who keeps children in her home, and lo and behold, she had an open spot. (She didn't earlier this school year.) My grandmother agreed to watch Isaac on Friday, since she didn't have to work. I just couldn't send him back there. On Sunday, I met Linda and interviewed her for about two hours before agreeing to let her keep him.

When I picked up Isaac today, he was very content. Linda was sitting with him on her lap, reading a story to him and the other child who was there. She could tell me things about what happened in his day, like the fact that he enjoyed looking at her dog through the window and what words he said. She showed genuine concern for him, telling me that she thinks he's getting sick and that the congestion is making it hard for him to drink his bottle.

That was another thing that made me want to look into other options for childcare. I know that the state says children are supposed to go outside a certain amount of time each day, but I would think a little common sense is in order. Apparently not though, because they took Isaac's class outside every day last week. And now he's sick. I know being cold didn't make him sick, but it definitely weakened his immune system.

Something else I noticed was that last Wednesday and Thursday, Isaac was extremely fussy when I picked him up. I couldn't figure out what was the matter at first, and the girls at the daycare told me he didn't fuss all day. Then I learned from an outside source that the way they feed the babies in the one year old room is by putting a plate in front of them and letting them eat with their hands. Of course, much of the food ends up on their face or the floor, since they're still learning how to self-feed. Isaac is still nursing, so he knows mama means food. When I heard about how they feed the one year olds, it dawned on me: he was fussing because he was hungry. I had to feed him his dinner early both nights, because he was starving.

I really don't think it's a coincidence that Linda had an opening when she did. No one left because they were upset. One child left to go to preschool, and two other children left because their parent got laid off. A coworker of mine told me that he used to send his child to her, and the only reason they left was because someone else offered to keep their child for free.

So now Isaac is staying with a sitter, along with two other children, ages one and two. His exposure to illness has gone WAY down, and he's getting more attention during the day. Not to mention the fact that this person is a mother herself and seems like she actually cares. I couldn't be more relieved!