This week, ‘Mamadee’ as Rya affectionately calls him, went
back to work after his parental leave and summer holidays. I think it was a lot harder for him
than it was for me since he feels more comfortable being at home with the kids
than I do, and since he’s got quite a tough job as a kindergarten teacher to go
back to. But he loves his day job
too and I think we’re all happy to have some more structure and routine back in
our lives.
Since I return to work in a couple of weeks too, the girls
have already started daycare –which gives us all some cushion time for the transition. We found a lovely lady down the street
with a dayhome, who happens to be from the same ‘back home’ as our
parents. She’s such a great match
for our little Chubz who seems to be adjusting quite well to her new
friend. She has a few other
children part-time who seem fond of Kassiah and the other two days a week, Kassiah
essentially gets a private nanny…and I’m pretty sure she loves the VIP
treatment! Rya has started at a
Montessori style daycare, which has been a bit more of a rocky start, as to be
expected since toddlers tend to be pretty ‘neo-phobic’ or scared of new things,
as I recently learned. It’s really
hard for Rya to say bye to us in the morning and sometimes she even wells up
with tears of relief when we pick her up in the afternoon. I’m told that during the day she does
some ‘work’ on her own – like painting & coloring, but isn’t comfortable
enough to talk to or play with other kids as yet. When I pick her up from the playground in the afternoon,
she’s usually walking around with a sad little face on, holding hands with the
teacher and then runs to the fence trying to break out in desperation when she
sees me. The daycare provides
breakfast, lunch, and snacks…but our stubborn little monkey refuses to eat
anything they offer her, so I’ve been sending her homemade lunches that she
nibbles on a bit. One positive is
that she naps there independently along with all the other little ones on their
mats, which is quite interesting since she claims to be incapable of falling
asleep at home without me lying next to her ; ) It’s pretty heartbreaking to hand her off each day,
especially since she doesn’t seem to be comfortable enough to let her true self
shine at school just yet. But her
teachers assure me that Rya seems to be gradually becoming more engaged each
day and I’m sure once she’s settled she’ll start to love it. Probably the main reason I’m having a hard
time with the transition is that I can completely relate to the nervous little
daughter I’ve created. I usually
spend the first few weeks, or sometimes months, of a new job with knots in my
stomach, staying pretty quiet until I get my bearings. But after that my personality returns
and I’m sure hers will too, especially since she’s got such a strong
charismatic one!
And incase you put two and two together wondered what the
heck I’m doing at home alone for two weeks without a husband or kids – it’s an
interesting combination between a whole lotta nothing, and a whole lotta
everything! I imagined my two
weeks off as me lounging on the deck with an iced tea and a nice book…so far
that hasn’t quite happened as yet.
I’ve spent most of my first week catching up on some errands and
housework, but even those tasks have had a calming feel to them since I can do
them at my pace and without having to chase after rugrats in between. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve certainly
squeezed in a couple of long naps, and possibly some trash t.v…but my goal is
to schedule in some serious self-care next week like maybe a spa day and some
kayaking at the lake.
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