Tough Week

When I told my friends that going to daycare in the morning was so easy for us, little caterpillar was very happy to go, I knew I probably jinxed it. Either that or she figured out this is not a playdate or temporary thing, this entire week has been so hard! Every morning, she refused to get up, or leave her bed, or put on her clothes, or even get downstairs. But once she was downstairs, she was fine for a short while. I had to distract her with some fruits or drinks that she likes. Then she would let us put on her shoes, she even waved goodbye to mommy calmly when she walked up to daddy's car. But Stubborn told me that she cried so hard everytime they just pulled up to their parking lot. She wrapped her little arms around his neck, refused to let go, and kept screaming "daddy, don't go!" Of course, the teachers and other kids didn't know what she was saying since she is still speaking Chinese. I went there with them on Wed, only making things harder! The teachers actually joked that I am not allowed to drop her off any more. Well, as least we were prepared for this to happen, so neither of us cried.

And yesterday, there was a storm right around evening commute time, so the traffic was really bad on highway. As young parents who have no experience of daycare thing, we didn't monitor weather and traffic online. Well, for me, I just assumed Stubborn had everything under control since he is the one picking her up and he has been doing a pretty good job. Since my office doesn't even have a window, I didn't even know it was raining outside. Stubborn didn't understand why his coworkers left work much earlier (they all have kids in daycare for a while, so they knows when to leave work earlier), until he got out and stuck in traffic. When he called me, I just got on my train. There was no way I could get home faster to pick her up. So we panicked! Well, we are so new to this daycare thing, we haven't even figure out this drop-off/pick-up thing, so no back up at all! I went a little crazy, calling my neighbors, at least I have their numbers on my cellphone. Finally one of them picked up, but she was not home either. Very lucky for us, her mom staying at their home now, and she can drive! The grandmom ran out the house with their 5 year old boy, and picked up little caterpillar before the rain really started pouring. I got home about 15 minutes later, just picked her up from their home, and she was having so much fun in their playroom playing with little boy's cars. Stubborn got home 5 minutes later than I did, we were both very grateful. I gave the little boy a bowl of strawberry fresh from my garden.

Then we got to thinking seriously about what happened. We actually thought it's scary that that grandma was able to pick her up. I did call the daycare letting them know that someone else is coming to pick up my girl. But they didn't ask any security questions, just trusted me when I said I was her mom! That grandma doesn't speak English, but I guess that 5-yr-old boy talked to the teacher. He is very smart. And little caterpillar just went with them!? She doesn't know that grandma very well, but she knows that little boy! And the daycare didn't even call me back telling me my girl was picked up, I had to call them. We probably should talk to the daycare and help them increase their security measures. And how did they get home? I forgot to ask them about that, because I was too excited to see my girl safe and sound. They do have a carseat in the car, but if their little boy was sitting in it, where was my girl sitting? Even just 5 minutes driving, I don't even want to think about what could happen. When we were in China, there is no carseat. So whenever we take taxi, she would sit on the backseat next to me. She always stood up, or even try to open the doors! So many times, I had to hold on to her so she won't fell down when the car came to a stop. Oh man! We really need to come up with a bullet proof plan for pickups, so this will never happen again! NEVER EVER! We felt like we are such bad parents!

Now we are worried that weekend is coming, she will think life is back to normal, daddy and mommy will stay with me the whole day, just like they did in China. Me spending 3 weeks with her before sending her to daycare, BAD IDEA! This coming Monday she might even struggle harder! My friends told me this phase lasts about 2 weeks to a month! We'll see how lucky we are. Oh, I worry about her so much during the day, I cannot really get any work done. NOT GOOD! I wonder how other parents do this? Having a kid is so hard and tricky sometimes!