Well, the good news is that my photography business is taking off. The bad news? Little T and I are having the hardest time adjusting to daycare. I feel like my heart is ripped in two when I leave without him. He sobs and cries my name, and every instinct tells me to comfort him, but I have to find a way to walk out of the daycare door without him instead. It’s the worst feeling. Since we’ve started daycare, he’s gotten very clingy. He cries when Big T leaves for work, he cries and won’t sleep alone in his crib at night, and he doesn’t want me out of his sight. Poor baby, I never expected it to be so hard. I knew it was going to be a little hard, but I didn’t expect it to be this hard. If anything, I thought I’d be the one crying and Little T would be fine.
Erg, so that’s what we’re going through now. I’ve been packing Little T’s dinners for daycare, so I’m going to start photographing them and posting in case anyone needs lunch ideas. Also coming up, my second Portland, Oregon post. I currently have a lack of storage and need to move some things around before I can post some fun photos and videos(!).
I also started a new blog that is specifically for my photography, in case anyone wants to check it out.
And that’s all that is going on around here! I hope you all are having a great week. 🙂
This Little Blog of Mine 
I don’t have kids (yet) but as someone who has worked in preschools and day cares I can tell you most of the time the crying and throwing fits are happening when you are in the room and leaving but most of the time once you are out of site they calm down. It is just that initial sting and it gets better. Not saying this is true for every child but I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to ask a parent to just go because the longer they stayed to try and comfort the child the harder it was for them to adjust. Hope it gets better soon and by the way I love your pictures! So cool and you have such a good eye!
Thank you, Lauren! I totally agree, it’s just so hard!!! I’m sure I make things ten times more traumatic for him. Ugh.
the trick is finding the balance between comforting and matter-of-fact. it’s HARD! i found best practice to keep everything super low-key and act cheerful myself, no matter what the rugrats were up to emotionally. they’re like wild animals, they sense fear. 🙂
Ugh, I know. I made things so much worse yesterday because I started crying too and he could sense my anxiety.
So sorry to hear how hard it is. I can only imagine. As teachers we both understand the other side of it but my heart would always hurt watching parents have to walk away from their upset child. Sure enough, after some time the child wold get engaged and be happy as can be. It is true though…the longer the parent would drag out the process the harder it seemed for the child to recover, so I acknowledge you for following through even though it is hard. Sending big hugs to you! I would often have parents call me about 30 minutes later just to check in and it seemed to bring them comfort to know their child had adjusted into their day. I know when I was teaching the little ones 2-4 years there were two stories the kids loved and knew by heart which really brought them comfort. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn and Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. We would change the story line a bit to fit the situation if need be, you could say the name of the day care instead of school as it is in the book. We would have the parents read it at home and then we would also read it during school as the transition activity from saying goodbye into starting the day, to remind them that parents always come back. I would also suggest to parents to have an item they can exchange with the child at drop off. For example, Mom might have a necklace, or t-shirt or such she lets the child wear or have for the day and the child gives the parent a favorite toy that the parent can take care of for the day. Seemed easiest if it was the same thing each day. They then have a piece of you to cling to if need be and they look forward to the exchange later at pick up. Just some ideas I thought might help from days teaching pre-school. : )
Sending lots of love to your beautiful family and this transition. Wishing you all the best!
Thanks Michelle. Maybe I can ask if I can call, that sounds like a great idea, and I love the necklace idea too. I used to teach kindergarten, so I know that it makes it worse if I stay and feed into it, but it’s so hard when it’s your baby! I’m going to have to really focus on having a positive and cheerful attitude when I drop him off so he doesn’t pick up that I’m stressed. 😦 Ugh, it’s so hard.
Aww, I bet it is so hard! Stick with it though, I hear that it is worth it. And don’t be surprised if he gets sick quite a bit at first. I have started taking my little one to the gym daycare 3 days a week and she has been really sick off and on since. The doctor says it is something she has to go through and since she is getting it over with now, she won’t get as sick when she starts school.
When I took Little T to daycare I was worried because he had a runny nose, but when I got there I noticed every kid had green snotty noses, lol.
So sorry its been such a tough transition. But Im sure its temporary, hang in there.
Thank you. 🙂