After a nice solitary trip to the grocery
store this afternoon I took my double stroller and walked over
to pick the kids up at daycare. Sweet, huh? I got lots of funny
looks for walking with an empty double jogger, but that’s ok. I
got there to find Lex sitting on the steps and on the verge of
tears. Everyone was outside playing and as soon as he saw me he
said “Oh!” and walked over to get his shoes. I sat down, he
crawled into my lap and started crying. He said he was too
tired and needed me to put his shoes on for him so he could go
home. I think he had a tough day. They daycare teacher said
that he was pretty stubborn about following their schedule and
argued about not wanting to go out, or come in, or lay down, or
play here, etc. She said he threw a pretty big tantrum and one
of the teachers held him in her arms until he calmed himself
down. I felt bad for him and bad for her and secretly a little
happy that I had a day off from it all.

Eve noticed me a minute later (still sitting with Lex) and
she ran over and said “Mommy! You came back for us!” Not sure
what she was expecting, but she seemed pretty surprised and
happy to see me again. Then she proceeded to tell me all about
how I left and they played and I went to work “at daddy’s
office” (nearby, really) and then “You came back for us!” She’s
cute. The teacher said she did awesome all day. I think it
caught up with her though. About half way home she started
crying and couldn’t control herself. When we got inside I
cuddled her and asked why she was crying and she said, “I don’t
know, I can’t stop crying.” (words I think she learned from
Lex’s tantrums) They were both pretty exhausted from the day.

At dinner I asked Lex if he had fun
today and he said yes, he had a lot of fun. Soo… I guess
we’ll see how next week goes. I hate to see him having tantrums
and being so upset, but he’s going to preschool in the fall and
he’s going to have to get used to other people’s schedules
sooner or later. I think it would be better to have this
adjustment in a daycare setting instead of a school setting.
That makes sense, right? Sometimes I think he’s like a delicate
flower and when handled well he thrives, but put in a situation
he’s not used to he just rebels. I try to be accommodating to
him (maybe too much so) but it’s draining on me and Alan and
probably even Eve. I also know that he won’t get those special
accommodations in school and part of growing up is learning how
to handle yourself in situations outside of your control.
Right? Anyway, I think (hope!) he’ll adjust after a few days
and I’m still confident that this will be best in the long
run.