Saturday, May 5, 2007

New Daycare

I switched Dominick to a new daycare this past Monday and I love it!!! I did like the daycare he was attending before, but I wasn't completely satisfied because:
  1. They seem to watch quite a bit of television.

  2. He was with the "older infants" because they didn't have room for him in the 1-2 year old class.

  3. It was more of a "child care center" and not as much a "learning center".

  4. It wasn't run as professionally as it should have been.

So I had him on a waiting list at another center and they finally had an opening. I took him to the new center everyday after I got off of work and stayed with him for about an hour, just for him to get familiar with the place. Then this week he officially started and I took off of work half days for Monday and Tuesday so he would only have to stay for a few hours and then he started full time on Wednesday. He has done an awesome job of adjusting, which shouldn't surprise me. I was so worried I couldn't even sleep last Saturday night. I love the new "learning center". They have a very structured schedule and they actually have a curriculum beginning with the 1-year old class. There is NO TELEVISION in the entire building so he will NEVER see T.V. at this place. I don't mind him watching T.V. at home but it bothered me not knowing how much or what he was watching at daycare. The new center does Art every single day for 30 minutes. They also go outside twice a day and have story time and puzzle time. Most of the Art and the curriculum are too advanced for a 1-year old so the teachers have to help big time, but I love the fact that they are still exposing the children to so much at such an early age. They also have classes in French beginning in the 3-year old class. I wish they had Spanish but we live in a French speaking community so all of the schools (even public schools) only offer French classes.

There is one huge problem and I hate to even mention it because it bothers me so much, but I'll tell you anyway. Dominick got BITTEN by another child on Thursday. He has this huge, full-mouth bite mark on his arm. It even broke the skin a little. As you can imagine, I am furious and Jon and my mom are even more upset than I am. My two biggest goals I had for him as a baby was for him not to sleep in the bed with us and for him not to be a biter. Well, after children are bitten several times, they will often start biting. I don't feel like going into details on the whole issue, but I have done research and spoken to a lot of mothers and the counselor at my school about this and it is completely normal at this age. I will stay on the daycare administrators back about this until this "biter child" stops the biting or is KICKED OUT. Like I said, I just don't feel like saying any more about the issue. I still feel 100% like I made the right decision about switching him to this new daycare because although the other place was OK, this one is outstanding (other than the fact that some little animal is biting my precious baby).

So anyway, here are pictures of Dominick's art work for this week. The theme for this month is Ocean Animals: Salt Water vs. Fresh Water. And although I do think my child is the smartest child I've ever met, hee-hee, I do know that the majority of this art work was done with 99% of the teacher's help.




6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh don't be silly Mom, we know that Dominick had little or no help with these art projects.... he's just 100% at EVERYTHING !!!!!!

LOVE AND MISS HIM SO MUCH,
Maw Maw

Anonymous said...

Lynn, I know you are very upset about the biter. When my oldest son was in pre-school he also got bit. I was very concerned. Trust the school that they will approach the parent and do everything so this won't happen again. It sounds like a fantastic school. I'm sure things will work out. Hopefully, Dominick will not mimic the act.
I agree with your Mom, I think Dominick did these art project all by himself. He is very smart and adorable. Great job Dominick.
Mrs. Rhonda

Anonymous said...

So glad you found a good daycare! I am right behind you as my current chikldcare is falling through! What a tough decision, but sounds like he's in a great place. Hope he doesn't start biting too!!

Angel said...

I am so glad you are happy with the new center. I know that is so important. It seems like a great place.

Kaitlyn was bitten and bit. UGHHH! It was so mortifying in both instances. Fortunately it didn't happen more than once or twice and they get through that stage quickly. Once they can talk it goes away. Angel

Jennifer said...

SOunds like you made a smooth move for your son. I understand you are upset by your child being biten. It happens at this age and it very well could have been your child that did the biting. I have a son that went through that stage. It is mortifying but it could be anyones child. It is not like you train your child at home to bite and then they go out and do it.

Anonymous said...

As the parent of a child who is a "biter" I can tell you that it's no picnic for us either. I would question the daycare center's supervision of the kids. For instance with my son, he never bites at home because we don't tolerate it. At his daycare though, he's biten other children and the daycare workers don't even "see" it til later! Question the daycare as to why they're not shadowing the biter more and using redirection, teething distractions, etc. Good luck.