Attending Playgroup – 21 days later

2 weeks at the childcare and it’s still disturbing for me to drop Samuel off every morning.

The cryings and beggings for mummy not to go is tearing me into pieces.

I have to constantly remind myself that he get to have fun interacting with other toddlers and learn so much more at the childcare.

And it is true. Now he has been so much more well behaved at home. He even started holding his own bottle or uttering random words. He is able to express more than he used to.

Babies are always so amazing. One moment you thought they are not talking. Another moment they suddenly open their mouth and uttered something in return, they surprised you when you least expected it.

There was this day when he suddenly grab my handbag from the wardrobe and imitated how i hold my handbag, turning his head as he walk while waving and telling me ‘bye, bye…’ softly. I didn’t even know he could say ‘bye’.

Then on the same day, I told him to greet his grandparents. He loudly call them out one by one. And so I found out he could actually talk if he wants to.

While there are some gains in term of behaviour development, you still need to expect it’s definitely going to be disruptive in terms of their physical growth.

Without the full attention in feeding, they are bound to lost weight. Well… if you think about the ratio they have in school. 1 teacher to 6 babies. You rationalised that it is almost close to impossible for the teacher to be feeding every baby properly. And since they are still so young, there’s no way to expect they are going to finish up their meals by themselves.

So he tends to ask for more food at night to make back what he didn’t have in the day. Which means waking up at random hours asking for milk and so even his sleep is disrupted.

I’m actually not sure if this is because of insufficient food in school or because he is growing through a growth spurt. Especially since the teacher claimed that he had at least a bowl of food in school on top of finishing up his bottle of milk. I’m sure all the running in school makes them even hungrier by the time they get home.

And after a while, they get attached to their teacher too. There was this day when I picked up Samuel from school, he was all teary because his teacher has just left to go off.

The best part is always bringing them home. Whenever we picked him up from childcare, he run and fly into my arms like a bird, smiling and grinning like a cheshire cat. That is moment I’m looking forward to every day.

Attending Playgroup – 7 days later

The first week is terrible. Almost heart breaking to drop Samuel off at the school everyday. After the first day, he became wary. Subsequent mornings are filled with struggles to wear uniforms and fights to remove him from clinging like a joey whenever we are close to the school. He cries his lungs out when we try to hand him over to the teachers. He cries whenever we fetch him from school. It almost like a ‘where have you been?!’ cry out loud.

It make us regretful and guilty for sending him to school as early as 18 months. When we asked around, everyone is wondering why so early since we do have our parents at home to care give for him. We questioned ourselves if we made the correct decision and even wondered if the school is a good choice. But we feel he could learn more in school and there will be more areas he could have fun plus having friends. He is a smart baby and we didn’t feel we are equipped to teach him everything that he want to learn. Besides he is so active and energised that he almost need to explore so much more all the time.

One thing to note is be prepared to see more bruises on your baby. On Friday, he banged his face against the table so there’s a huge purple patch on his cheeks and on Monday, he slammed into the gate before it even open so there is another bruise on his head and today he got bitten by another toddler while fighting over the toys.

I even remember on the first day when we got him home. He was so smelly that it’s as if another kid has pooped on him. While I bath him, I almost feel like I wad so guilty and heartbroken.

Sending your baby to the school can be a roller coaster ride. You worried and deal with all these emotional moments.

Finally today we picked up a happy baby; I was so proud of him. He was able to sit still in his classroom, waving to us happily when he saw us approached. We were so happy to just continue to watch him while the teacher feed him his snack. The rest of the toddlers were watching him in envy. It has been barely 7 days and I’m so relieved he is coping.

I guess establishing a routine is really helps. I make sure everyday I send and fetch him from school personally so he knows mom is always there for him.

Incentives played a part too. We ensure he gets treats like playing in the bathtub or playground when he comes home. And full attention from us for the rest of the evening so he knows we love him a lot.

One thing I noticed is he now wants a lot more hugs or eye contact/talk once he is home from school. It’s almost like he is missing all these at school. So we have to ready to shower him more with the love.

1st day @ Playgroup

After months of silence, I decided i need to at least make an effort to write about this. I’m not saying there isn’t anything to blog about for past 3 months, there will always be. With a baby, life will never be boring. In fact sometimes a little too exciting for old me.

I could talk about his most recent episode of ‘Asthma’ and in fact I might in another blog but I’m more motivated to write about this. My baby and his 1st day at school.

Maybe it’s still not school like the school. At least not considered until pre nursery next year but technically he’s still away from us for the whole day.

Ok I cheated. I was mentally prepared to put him in for whole day until the teacher says he only need to be in until 1230. Still, it’s 4 hours without us.

But while the mum is apprehensive, the baby is all excited. He quickly push the chair, seated and immediately got acquainted with the classmate next to him. I like how he took away some crayons and when his neighbour stared in surprise, he lightly touch her on the arm giving her ‘it’s ok, my dear’ pat and she just continued to gaze at him.

When the mum hand over his sippy cup to the teacher, he loudly make this ‘Aaa’ sounds and the teacher immediately turned around asking if he wants water. He sipped while the teacher holds his drink, ignoring the fact this is a stranger that he’s seeing in less than 10 mins. I would have blush (that is if i still remember how to) but for him, it’s like normal day to day that I asked a stranger for food or help. Yes Remind me to write about the time his dad told me how he snatched a half eaten biscuit from a boy at the mall and the dad has to fight to get half a piece back to the crying boy and apologised profusely to the staring parents. Or how often he goes around the food court asking other people for food. (I swear people thought i’m starving him)

Sorry back to the school. After 10 minutes, of coz he can’t sit that still. He decided to check out the shelves and wander around the room.

Put it simply, he totally disregarded his nearby mum and grandma and just went on with his routine. It was not until we closed the safety gate of the room, he came close grunting some unhappy noises. But grandma just have to tell him we will be back. He seems satisfied with the answer and immediately went back to his seat. So we left.

I drove away thinking now he’s 18 months and very soon he will be 18 and I will have to send off him to army. My heart sunken and I was fighting off my tears.

After hours of pondering with anxiety, the hours seem to crawl and finally it’s 1230. We scrambled back to fetch our baby. He came out of the dark room (room was dark as it was nap time) holding his diaper cloth (safety blanket) with tearful eyes.

And I was hoping the teacher tell me how he misses his mum. Again met with disappointment when the teacher just told me he barely cried and the moment the food came or when play starts, he forgot his cries. And that everything is good. I actually wishes my baby is less independent after all he is only barely 18 months.