Busy days
Sorry I wasn’t here yesterday.
We AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! have a AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! new baby AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA in the AAAAAAAAAAAA!!! ranks. She’s coming a couple of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! days a AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! week, and I think AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! it’s safe to say AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! that she is AAAAAAAAA!!! less than AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! impressed.
The one thing she does enjoy is being in the stroller. I haven’t quite gotten to the point of putting a stroller up in the house — though Thursday, when the forecast is for rain all day may be the first — but we have been OUT a lot. Taking nice, soothing WALKS. Lots and lots and lots of walks.
I sit her so she’s facing me, and she can see my face as I chat, and I make eye contact with her and smile, smile, smile.
See? I am a nice lady! Haven’t eaten any babies this week! No axes in my cupboard. Nice, nice lady!!
The first few days are the worst, of course, because the baby has not yet learned to look to you for comfort. A younger baby would, but an eight-month-old knows mummy from NOT MUMMY!!!!, and prefers the real deal. If she misses mummy but will take comfort in my willing arms, she’s soothe-able… if my arms are as comforting as… oh, tree branches (right now, I am a tree)… she will be inconsolable.
So we walk.
Yesterday we walked to Tim Hortons (coffe to go for Mary), we walked past the toy store (and window shopped), we walked past the kids bookstore, we walked past the park and the bank and the Seven Eleven and the bridge. We saw people and books and toys and doggies and pretty leaves. We talked about everything we saw.
And throughout it all, new baby girl was wide-eyed and calm. We’ve done this for three days. Two-hour walks every morning in blissful, peaceful companionship, before returning home AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! for lunch. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Yesterday, however, we had a breakthrough. We went for our walk, and then, when we returned? She cried, yes, but she didn’t shriek. She cried, yes, but she paused to take in her surroundings.
And then, when the others had had their lunches and I could focus on her… she sat on my lap while I jiggled and sang… she looked at my face, she watched the toys I held in front of her, the reached for the toy! She was calm! And interested! And then?
Then… she SMILED.
And just then, her dad came to the door. Right when his baby girl was smiling!!
Ladies and gentlemen, we have Turned the Corner.
Phew.
October 20, 2009 - Posted by MaryP | daycare | babies, baby crying, consolation, strollers, toddlers
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A childcare provider is expected to be a superhuman mix of the Madonna and Mary Poppins, ever patient, loving, kind, always delighting in the sweetness of her charges. I don’t do such a bad job, all in all, and it’s far more likely the parents than the children who strain my sanity most days. But I’m here to tell you: It’s Not ALL Mary Poppins…
If you wish to contact me, my email is notmaryp at gmail dot com
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That would have been Sophie. Christopher? Would have been just as happy with us or with the cashier at the grocery store. No joke. The kid never had separation anxiety. And it turns out that Sophie is the more gregarious, social one now. Interesting, isn’t it?
It is. Some traits carry through from infancy into adulthood, but not all, and there’s no sure-fire way to predict which are which!
That must be so difficult for all concerned. Glad you turned the corner.
Worse for her than me, and for her it’s passing. Still, I’m with you: glad it’s moving into the past!
Oh dear, poor little girl. I’m glad she’s got a loving carer like you, who’s giving her all the love and reassurance possible, but what are we doing to our babies? I bet her mummy’s been unhappy too.
I stayed home with my three kids, to the point of home-schooling them until they were 10 or so, because I believed that being in the bosom of their loving family was best for children. It’s not without some irony, then, that I have found my calling running a daycare. And now, though I would always encourage a family which was thinking of having a full-time at-home parent, I no longer feel that it’s the one and only best way to do it.
There’s no doubt new baby girl has been unhappy her first three days, poor mite, but I don’t believe for a minute we’re doing anything of long-term consequence… except, perhaps, broadening the circle of people who love and care for her. Three days of unhappiness, followed by another few of increasing adjusment. Within three weeks she’ll be perfectly happy to be here, just as the other children are, and she’ll have five new playmates and another nurturing adult in her life. Not such a bad thing.