Day 2 at daycare went a bit better. After
last week’s experience I let the subject drop for a few days
and then started mentioning daycare casually in conversation.
Eve also conveniently brought it up a few times (“At daycare
they play RAFFI!!!” she yells), but every time Lex insisted
that he did not want to go back. I was getting a little
worried. Then yesterday I asked him if he would like me to stay
with him at daycare for a little while and he immediately
perked up. “Oh yes mommy, if you stay with me for about an hour
then I will be very happy at daycare.” Ummm… ok. He’s such a
little puzzle. All day yesterday he seemed positive. This
morning he got himself dressed (clothes over pjs, but it was
good enough for me!) and in the car with no fussing. I stayed
with him for about an hour and when I left he said he was sad,
but ok. The teacher called me a few hours later and asked if he
could go on a field trip to find salamanders. She said he was
crying and saying that he wasn’t having fun anymore, so she
thought a field trip with a few other kids would be a good
change of scenery.

When I got there
this afternoon they were both outside playing. When they saw me
they started crying. Both of them. Running to me, crying. So I
held both kids for a few minutes, heads on my shoulders, tears
streaming down my shirt. The teacher said that Eve had been
great all day and that Lex did much, much better. She said he
listened to her very well and didn’t argue or fight. I guess he
cried a lot and kept saying he wanted to go home now, but at
least there was no fighting. Eve said, “Mommy! You came back
for us. You came back to get us!” I really hope this is just
toddler words and not her really thinking that I was leaving
her there forever. And if she does think that, she sure doesn’t
seem concerned in the morning when I leave!

I think mostly they are both exhausted from the whole
experience. Hopefully after a few more times they will get into
the swing of things. Or maybe this is just what daycare is.

We also have to work on our evening
routine a bit too. They are both wound up when we get home and
I try to settle them down for dinner, bath, stories, but they
just bounce and make me frustrated. Then I feel guilty for
being annoyed with them when I haven’t even seen them all day.
This is mostly my problem, not theirs. Last night and tonight
they were awake for a really long time after I put them in bed.
Awake and bouncing. Annoying! Both nights it was shortly after
9:00pm before they fell asleep! So I think I need to work on
the post-daycare evening routine. Apparently its going to have
to be different than our regular evening routine. For all of
our sakes!