Ring around the rosies...............

We all fall down! This is not the post I had planned but stuff has come up that while not entirely unexpected could not have happened at a worse time. Also - I need to clarify the the "first in a series" is part of a series - but the posts are related to events that happened on specific dates... and I assure you will be forthcoming!

In the meantime - we are going through daycare h*ll. Our old center we will refer to as Smell Wanders... has been in serious trouble lo these last few weeks. At first I thought it was merely a temporary problem - often faced by centers... staff turnover and all that. More recently it has become increasingly obvious that there were systemic problems that though they do not directly effect my child - have caused enough sturm and drang as to begin to have serious ramifications for our family. EFP has recently begun to show the signs of living with unpredictability and stress. Aside from the waking at all hours and not wanting to go back to sleep, she has become downright incorrigible in getting ready in the morning. EFP all of a sudden doesn't want to get dressed, get in the van, or GO TO THE CENTER! While she does seem to look forward to seeing her little friends when I say their names, but she flatly refuses to cooperate in getting out of the house. Given this is not her usual MO and that this only started when all H*ll broke loose at the center - I gotta say - I am thinking it's the daycare's problems causing all this in conjunction with the toddler antics.

As a result we are in the process of changing her daycare (we'll call it Creamy Clouds) and we have cancelled our annual trek to Philly for the Oireachtas to the absolute horror and disappointment of Miss T. I have received no less than 3 pleading emails and while I am sorrier than I can say about having to cancel at the last minute - I just can't imagine that sleeping (or not) in a hotel for a few days then switching the daycare upon our return is in EFP's best interest. Not to mention that of course the new daycare is more pricey than the old day care. It is just to hard to even get my head around all this, but I can't continue her in a situation that I know to be wrong and to be fair - there have been a few inklings that there was a problem, but as long as she was happy Momma was happy. These days NO ONE is happy around here. Mommy and Daddy are decidedly sleepy and irritable and baby is not her usual cheery self.

On a side note - when is a Pediatrician's visit not a Pediatrician's Visit? HA! When someone forgets to note that there was in fact a Visit!! We have to have a last minute visit because her MD's office did not record any of the last 5 visits as a 18month check up!!!! I am (of course!) furious. Still waiting for the office manager to contact me. I wonder what is a parent supposed to do - when the MD says he doesn't need to see her till she is 24 months? AND she has been in no less than 5 times for various reasons - none of which were so serious that she couldn't have been given a check up and a couple of shots. In fact the last time I took her - in August she did get 4 shots.. so what was that? DH has taken her for the last few visits but I don't think that has anything to do with it frankly!

So onward and upward I guess. I don't think this is in any of the parenting books - how to manage the worry and anxiety that accompany you when the day care situation is not right. How do work efficiently and competently when your heart is in your throat all day worrying about that little bundle who holds the key to your life? I know worrying never solved anything and I need to be able to concentrate on my job and the other important things that are going on in my life, but when I look at her face and know that she has placed all her trust in me as her mother I do not want to do anything to disturb that trust. I may not be the perfect mother - but I AM HER mother and I am the only mom she has at this point. It's more disgusting to me at this point (and I won't elaborate at this time) that any parent should find themselves in this bind with daycare - in this day and age and in what is SUPPOSED to be the greatest nation on the planet!