Cole's birthday and daycare 150One year goes by so quickly.  It pains you to go back to work, and leave your child to the care of another.  You drop your your child off at the door.  You give him a hug and wave goodbye.  Your heart breaking as he wails for you.   Will he be ok?

Sometimes I think pictures are better than words.   Issac started coming to me once a week a month ago.   He had a hard time leaving Mom and Dad, (they are just so AWESOME!), and for the first few days with me he just wanted to live in the Ergo.  I didn’t mind; I love baby cuddles.   However,  a couple weeks ago, Issac decided that daycare is actually a great place to be.   He’s not walking yet, but he already has an explorers heart.  He is whipping around the place.    He investigates everything.  He love the trains…and dismantling the tracks.   He seems to love art – painting, gluing, sticking, pouring, and sprinkling vigorously!   Issac is a big fan of the outdoors.  I think he really loves the different textures.  He is a maniac in the sandbox.  He gets so excited, and yes dirty too.  He’s an excellent climber, and a good sharer too.   He still cries when his Mom or Dad leave, but he’s done by the time the door closes.

Cadence just started at Sweet Pea’s last week.   She did not have any trouble adjusting.   Her mom was worried, and to be honest I was worried too.  I had seen Cadence a few times at the Hub, and she seemed very attached to Mom. I was envisioning a flood of tears, but all I saw was smiles.   Cadence and Issac sat upstairs and shared some Cherrios. They came downstairs and did puzzles together; played with the babies, trains, and blocks.   I was amazed!  Day 2,3, 4 were all similar.  Some days Cadence cries at the door when Mom says goodbye, but once she has gone, Cadence is all smiles.   She toddles around eager to join in the fun.

All kids react differently to being left in daycare.  My daughter Anja had a really hard time being left.  She wailed everyday when I left for the entire year I had her in daycare.   Her provider was awesome – but she likes familiarity.   Part time kids seem to take a longer period to adjust because trust takes time to develop.  However, all the kids I’ve taken care of so far have really enjoyed here within a month.   And really why wouldn’t they love being here,  everything is helping them develop into the people God created them to be!

 

 

Cole's birthday and daycare 087At the moment I’m taking care of a mix of older preschoolers and fresh one year old’s.  It’s been a fun challenge to find art activities that my 5 year old enjoys as much as my one year old.  ”M”- ( almost 2 years old) is obsessed with sprinkles and pouring, but sparkles and colored salt can get expensive in the quantities she loves.   So the other day, I was in my kitchen thinking about crafts and I wondered how I could do similar activities for my young ones but without spending tons  of money on sparkles.  Then I opened my cupboard and saw  huge package of salt (thinking play dough) that I had bought at Costco.   I grabbed some food coloring and with a few drops we had tons of sprinkles, in lots of color for less than a dollar.

The kids had fun making pictures with the colored salt.  But it wasn’t as easy to work with as sand  or glitter is on glue.  It seemed to clump and fall off when the pictured dried.   The next day I had Issac.  Issac was more into pouring than sprinkling.   So I looked around and found some jars.  Issac, Anja, and Cole had a blast making layering the colors.   My 11 year old exchange student Annika also couldn’t resist the fun and made a jar of her own.  They turned out so well.   I can’t wait to see “M” do it.  She will probably spend an hour filling up jars with salt if I know her.

 

 

Cole's birthday and daycare 153Several times a week, I take the kids to Ecole De Bois (the old Weaver Elementary school) to go to Franc Depart.  The Franc Depart program runs Tuesday – Thursday from 9am – 12pm.  It is the strong start program but in French.  I value this program highly because the room has a variety of interesting materials for the kids to play with, offers additional crafts,  play time in the gym or outside on their toddler park, and a story and song time in French.  Mirka, the teacher, is AMAZING!!!  I have been frequenting this program for two years and it is by far my favorite out of all the free drop in’s in Ladner and Tsawwassen.