End of break

I'm probably in the minority, but I'm really sad that the kids' (and my) winter break is coming to an end tomorrow. Back to school they go and back come Grant and Will. I've really, really, really enjoyed having just Alyssa and Joel home for 2+ weeks. And although it was partially illness-induced that I didn't have any "bonus" kids for 2 weeks its been really nice not "working" for 2 weeks. I'm sad to see it end. (Although I will welcome back the paycheck! ;) ) I've enjoying *almost* every pjs-till-noon, hanging out, puttering around, cuddling, napping, movie/tv watching, game playing, art project making moment and I don't want it to end!!! Usually I can't wait to send them back to school so that we can get back into our "normal" routine again and back to my attempt at an organized life, but I don't even really feel that way this year. Bah humbug end of winter break!

What's wrong with this picture?

aka "Overheard at Daycare"

"Joel, that's Will's purse. Please give it back to Will and we'll go find your purse"
*insert Will and Joel both screaming "MINNNEEEEEEEEEEE!" at the same time*
"Where's Joel's purse? That's Will's, buddy, let's go find yours. Where's the pink polka dot purse?"
*Will brings me me Joel's polka dot purse, so I not-so-gently remove the cherry purse from Joel's clutches*
*Joel cries*
"Joel! Look what I'm putting in your purse ... its a barbie! Look, there's a barbie in your purse!"

The tears finally subsided when he discovered the Hannah Montana microphone that had been "lost" on top of the washing machine. "its the best of both worlds!!!!!!"

I'm kind of afraid to take him over to the Kleffmans' house ... he might get beat up.

Now our boy Joel is hoarding all of his toys in a pile and if you even look at him he roars at you. Methinks the terrible twos arrived just on schedule. *sigh*

But he did just offer me some of his cheez-its, so maybe there's still hope for him.

Professionalism, please

I have struggled with one of my daycare families for several months now. Really since they started ~ I "lovingly" refer to one of their children as the "poopinator" - an almost 4 year old who would routinely take off his pull up during naptime and get poop all over my furniture, carpet, etc. For the last 3 months I have jumped through hoops for them when they decided that they wanted to drop from two days a week to one day a week without any formal "warning". Then they wanted to change their hours so that their kids got dropped off about 15 minutes before my schedule naptime. Then about 3 weeks ago they decided they needed two days a week again and promised to get in touch with me so we could discuss a schedule. Getting in touch with me last week was calling at 6:30 Sunday night to see if I wanted to watch the kids on Monday. Getting in touch with me this week was e-mailing me Sunday afternoon to inform me that they had hired a nanny to come to their house and wouldn't be needing me anymore. Credit to them they did offer to bring their kids for two more weeks since I have a "two week notice" clause in my contract.

My first thought was to e-mail back and say, "Screw you, forget it ... good riddance". I was horribly upset. I was so relieved when they announced that they were going to go back to two days a week because it would make our money situation a lot more comfortable and now we're losing that income all together. I'm not sorry to see them go at all because its been nothing but issues and stress and annoyances with them since they started. But I am sorry to see the paycheck go.

But as I've thought about it more and more, I think the thing that upsets me the most is that she felt the need to tell me via an e-mail. Didn't even have the respect/courtesy to call me and tell me "in person". Almost since the start of our "relationship" I have felt that these parents appreciated everything I have done for them, but didn't have a lot of RESPECT for me ... and that's something that I think really stinks. I am the last person that wants to engage in any sort of confrontation, but be an adult for crying out loud!

I know everything will work out and I know that I will be a lot happier having this family out of my life, but for now I just want to be as childish as the mom is/was and just tell them to stick it where the sun doesn't shine (for Adam ... Seattle, Washington). But I'm going to sleep on it and then respond tomorrow. Or as Adam suggested, wait until Wednesday night since Thursday is their "regular" daycare day.

Wishing I could be a cold, heartless, bitch when it comes to daycare ...

When it comes down to it, I do love my daycare. Its something I've always wanted to do and when I'm not stressing about being taken advantage of and how to please everyone else I do enjoy it. Things are a little shaky with a family of mine that only comes Thursday afternoons, so just on a whim I put an ad out on craigslist offering daycare openings. I put in there that I was hoping to fill positions after the new year, but would possibly be able to do a more immediate opening. I honestly wasn't expecting to hear from anyone - or if anything get a random call a few weeks from now, but lo and behold I got a call this morning. From someone who wants to start next week. Yikes.

Its a chaotic schedule and my gut says that it won't work because there are a lot of weeks that they need care on two of the days that Alyssa is in preschool. One day I could probably swing by having Adam drop her off and go in to work late and his mom pick her up and bring her home or ask one of our neighbors to help out, but I know I can't do two days a week. Plus I like being a familiar figure at her preschool and being involved in the pick up and drop off process.

BUT ... its an awful situation and I feel so bad for the woman that called me. Her sister just passed away of brain cancer and she and her husband are getting custody of her 2 1/2 year old nephew ... I immediately want to bend over backwards and help this family that I've never met even though it probably means a lot more stress and anxiety for me. But on the flip side, it means more money for me, too. But can you put a price on my mental well-being? Probably not ...

Overheard at daycare

From an almost 4 year old after taking a big swig from a sippy cup of apple juice:

"mmmm, this is good beer. I love this beer."

I think I may have to mention that one to his daddy when he comes to pick him up today.

At least Alyssa didn't add "If you like beer, you should try some Boone's!". ;)

TGIBLD!

Thank Goodness its B's Last Day!

Today is the last day for one of my daycare kids. I have to confess, I am not sorry at all that he's leaving. I can't think of anything he had to "offer" my daycare ... unless it was more stress and gray hairs for me. I will miss his mom; she was a really sweet person and I do hope that maybe we can get the kids together from time to time. But as for "B" ... he caused so much stress and frustration on my part, he antagonized Joel, he was rough with toys, kids, Lexi, etc. Not a good "vibe" to have in the house.

Overheard at daycare

I told Adam one time that I wanted to do an "overheard at daycare" blog after reading some of the "overheard in the office/new york/high school/at the beach" blogs. I don't know if I would really have enough stories to entertain people, but here's an "overheard" from today.

"Last time, when I was playing football, I saw a wasp. And that wasp ATE me on the arm. I was just looking at it and it ate me. And then it ate me on the other arm. And I didn't get the football! And then I died. Forever. "

I don't like the money side of business

I hate talking money with my daycare customers. It makes me so uncomfortable ... like I feel like I don't *deserve* to be paid or something.

This morning one family dropped off and only had a check for 2 days worth of daycare. Monday, Memorial Day, is one of very few paid daycare holidays. And I figured that she just didn't think about that. But when I brought it up, the mom kind of got attitude with me. Said she would write me another check when she picked up the girls, but I felt like she was ticked that I was getting paid for not working. But SHE got paid for not working. So why is she any better than me? *disclaimer* I'm probably being much more sensitive that I should be about the whole situation, but I'm still feeling very uncomfortable around her. Then I realized that she probably didn't remember/realize that she needed to give me a deposit check to hold her kids' place in daycare for next fall because they are taking the summer off, so I e-mailed her about that. Now I'm afraid she'll be even more ticked at me. But I'm just following my contract which SHE signed. *sigh*

I got a returned check for non-sufficient funds for the second time for the other family that is dropping off/making payment today. I have in my contract that they have to pay a $25 fee and I will only accept cash from then on out. Well, its more of a pain for me to take in cash, so I told the mom last time that I'll give her another chance but if it happens again I would only be able to take cash. I didn't think it would happen again. Especially only a few weeks later. But it did. So now I have to tell her that she owes me back payment and that I'll only take cash. Which she was very open about warning me last time that she thought one of her checks was going to bounce, so she probably won't care, but it still makes me uncomfortable.

Mixing business with pleasure

I'm really struggling lately with one of my daycare families and its really, really eating away at me. Hence the 3:50 AM blog post because I can't sleep. I feel like the situation is all my fault, but I have to keep reminding myself that it is a two way street. I feel like I crossed the client/friend line, which I wish I could take back. But I also feel like this family has started taking me for granted, which isn't fair to me. And who the hell announces, right in front of their daycare provider, that their child hates going to daycare? I understand that most kids would probably prefer to stay at home with their parents instead of their parents having to work, but the statement could have been worded a lot more "delicately". I know I'm probably being too sensitive about it, too, but it still stinks. Thank goodness I only have 2 more daycare days with this family until they are "off" for the summer. Maybe we just need some time apart. And there's a chance that the mom will start working full time next fall, which I'm definitely not going to sign up for. As my wise old Dad says, "everything will come out in the wash". But in the mean time, I wish I could just let it go and go to sleep!

We're supposed to go to one of the girls' birthday party on Sunday and I'm dreading it. I really don't want to go and I feel like we wouldn't be missed/it would be a relief if we skipped it by the mom, but I don't want to disappoint the birthday girl by her buddy Alyssa not showing up. And it would probably make things worse in the long run if we played hooky. So I guess I'll just grin and bear it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a picture of the super cute craft that we did for daycare this morning ... in case you can't read it, it says "Thumb-body loves you ... and that thumb-body is ME!". And the white "smudges" are thumb prints (you try getting good thumb prints out of a one year old! Or three year olds for that matter). But anyway, I think they turned out pretty cute.

And here's a picture of my gift from my fantastic, wonderful, creative, and clever husband ...

its a "plain" ticket aka plane ticket to go to North Carolina!

Joel's first ...

poker game.

The burning question ~ "Now if I *fill* my diaper does it count as one article of clothing or two?"

The great play dough mystery

It never fails. Any time we get out play dough to play with for daycare when its time to clean up, there is always one extra container that seems to have no dough to fill it. Dough came out. So where did the dough go? Its happened at least 3 times now. And I don't *think* anyone is mishandling (aka eating) the dough.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.

It came early and from an unexpected place

I have been waiting for and/or dreading the stage where my kids see something on TV or in a magazine and start begging for it incessantly. I keep hoping it is a long ways off, but I'm afraid I'm probably mistaken.

I got a small dose of the "I want it"s when one of my daycare kids came up to me with the fisher price catalog and asked me if we could get a baby and bathtub. Ask your parents, kid!

She probably can see the true pushover that I am when it comes to cute, girly toys. ;)

We're having us a party!!!

A pool party! This month's "theme of the month" for daycare is "Summertime Fun", so today we celebrated with a pool party. The girls had lots of fun and neighbors Sophie and Braden came to join in the fun. We spent the morning playing in the pool and throwing water balloons (the fence was the most successful target) and finished up with some fruit umbrella straw/kabob snacks.

Cute Kid Pictures 8-9-07

I took these pictures today and thought I would share. I love the one of the older girls... almost as much as the one of Joel getting "goosed". :)

Miracles Happen!

Sung to the tune of "Accidents Happen" from "Elmo's Potty Time" DVD.

Miracles happen; that's what they say!
Miracles happen, not every day!

All 4 kids are napping/resting right now. I keep hearing peeps from Kinley, but hopefully she'll put herself back to sleep. Or maybe I'll go get her and plop her in the swing; that usually puts her out.

Now I have to quickly decide what to do with the 10 minutes or so of peace that I might get ... I know I *should* clean up, but I think I might relax with a book instead.

I'm in business!

Tonight marks the eve of me accomplishing one of my long time goals/dreams. Tomorrow morning I officially open my own in home daycare. You name the emotion, I'm feeling it tonight, but mostly I'm really excited. I hope its a great experience for Adam, Alyssa, Joel, and me as well as my daycare families.

I have will have 4 additional kids total. The first family that is starting tomorrow has two girls ages 5 and 3. They will be coming two days a week. My other family starts in August. They have two girls ~ one is 3 years old and a baby who is about 6 weeks younger than Joel. The babies are going to be my biggest challenge, but I'm really excited about the fact that both families have girls close to Alyssa's age. The second family will be coming 2 1/2 - 3 days a week. So both are part time, which should leave me a day or so each week to run around and be "free" (or as free as a mom to a 2 1/2 year old and 5 month old can be!)

Wish me luck!!!