LAT WiR

Transitions

Taggart — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:47:53 GMT

My son is in a new room at daycare -- the bigger kid room. I think he's handling it okay. But my husband and I are freaking it out. We're not ready.

It's so strict in this new room: nap tims is set noon to three, no napping if you're tired midmorning. Meals are scheduled at certain times no varying, and there's absolutely no eating after four.

When we pick our son up at 6, he's exhausted and hungry and cranky. When I went in on Wednesday I could hear Will crying from outside. In the room he was red-faced, covered in tears.

"He's does this every day from about five on," said the woman working there, handing him over to me and rushing to grab her purse so she could leave. "I hold him he cries, I put him down he cries." She shrugged; she was clearly ready to get outta there and get home.

I felt awful, imagining him miserable every evening, with someone who's given up on helping him feel better. There was a full bottle for him in the fridge; when I offered it he grabbed and sucked it down in a second. But of course it would have been breaking the rules for her to give it to him.

Aieeee. I wish we could pick him up earlier.

Circles

Taggart — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:30:10 GMT

My son is obsessed with round shapes. Whenever he sees a circle, he points it out with a big "oooh!" Everything round fascinates him_ balls, drawer knows, the eyelets on lace-up sneakers, daisies and other similarly shaped flowers, the shades of sunglesses.

It's pretty cute. Though probably it means I should have breastfed longer. Right?

Name dilemma

Taggart — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:24:34 GMT

I think I might be crazy. My husband thinks so; my friend Samantha says for sure. Because I want to change my son's name.

Is that wacked?

I know it is.

Just, the name hasn't ever felt right. And it caused a lot of controversy at the time. My mom was upset that we named my son the same name (William) as my father (they're divorced), so we changed my son's middle name from being after my husband (James) to being after my mom's father (Harry).

Did you follow that?

But the middle name appeals to me less and less, and actually makes me mad sometimes since I think my mom was out of line in speaking up.

I know I'm being kind of silly, but it sure makes me feel like I messed up my first big decision as a parent.

Moving up

Taggart — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:08:58 GMT

My son celebrated his first birthday last week. And this week he's hit another milestone: He's moving up from daycare's infant room to the toddler room. Big move!

But I'm freaking out. In the baby room, the kids get fed when they seem hungry and take naps when they're tired. In the new room, it's everyone on one schedule. No variations. Like, you know, boot camp. Except they're toddlers.

When I told one of the women who works in the room that Will seemed really thirsty and hungry (and freaked out) at pickup time she said, "Last snack is at 4:20." I asked if he could have some water in a sippy cup during that last hour and she said, basically, no.

"We'll give them water if they ask for it. But last snack is at 4:20." (OK, to clarify: my one year old is not a language genius and can not yet say, "Gee, I'm parched. May I have a glass of water please?")

Another woman I spoke to said she'd try to give him water. But she was the only one there and had six kids to look after in the last hour so she didn't think she'd be able to.

Grandparents

Taggart — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:06:46 GMT

Everyone told me an added bonus of having kids was your newly appreciative relationship with your parents. Sure, you're exhausted and constantly interrupted and probably wearing mismatched (and dirty) clothing more often than you'd like to admit... but you will have newfound understanding and appreciation for your parents.

Did that happen for you? Cause it certainly didn't for me. I do have increased appreciation for my in-laws. But I have a brewing resentment for my mom and my dad. Neither one seems to have much availability to spend time with my son, Will -- let alone babysit when I need a favor or a break.

I can't understand it because, as you can see, Will is clearly one of the world's high rankers on the adorability scale. And neither my mom nor my dad lives very far away. What up??

Parenting question of the day

Taggart — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:57:57 GMT

Enough about me. Here are my questions for the parent of young kids out there:

How did you celebrate your child's first birthday?