Daycare Drama

Last week was quite a stressful one for me on the daycare front.  Big sister K came home two weeks ago telling me a child in her class hit her (we'll refer to him as "X").  She couldn't explain to me in what context he hit her, so I dismissed it as a one-time event.  Then last Monday, we were driving home from daycare and big sister K tells me X hit her again, so Tuesday morning, I called up her teacher and spoke to her about it.  I was promised that they'd keep an eye on the situation, but on Wednesday, it happened again.  M and I decided to speak to the director about it on Thursday, but he didn't get a break from work all morning, so we were going to call in the afternoon.  Before we even got a chance to, I received a call from her teacher informing me that X pushed big sister K and her face landed on the couch.  I was absolutely livid.  Four incidents in less than two weeks (and three in less than one!) was unacceptable!  I called up M and told him he had to make time right away.  We called the daycare but the director was already gone for the day, so we spoke to the head of the preschool program and voiced our concerns.  Friday morning, M went in with me to drop the kids off and we had a long conversation with the director.  There have been incidents with other children in the past, but more recently, he seems to be directing his attention on big sister K.  X has to be constantly shadowed by one of the teachers and they have a special developmental plan for him with his parents.  While I am not confident that's the answer (there are two teachers and 20 kids in the class... it hardly seems fair to have one teacher dedicated to one child), as long as big sister K is kept safe, that's my main priority.

When I went to pick big sister K up today, X came near her again.  It's not my job to discipline someone else's child, so as he was about to put his hands on my daughter, I had my arms around her and told him "nice touches."  The teacher saw this and immediately pulled him away.  Five minutes later, as I was helping big sister K put her coat on, X came over again.  I blocked his path so that he couldn't touch big sister K.  The teacher saw him next to us and took him to the other side of the room.  As we were leaving, X kept shouting, "Bye K!  Bye K!  Bye K!"  I don't think he means any harm, but it's kind of freaking me out that this 3-year old kid seems obsessed with my daughter, following her around, trying to get her attention.  Every day now, I have to remind big sister K to stay away from X; if he goes near her, she is to walk away.  I plan to have another talk with the director tomorrow about what happened today during pickup.  I don't know what (if anything) will come out of it, but if X is having developmental issues, he may need more help than what this center can offer him.

Fifteen Month Update

It's hard to believe my little boy is 15 months already.  He's busy running around, scaling bookshelves, sticking his finger into outlets, opening drawers and getting his hand stuck in them, making a mess in the living room right after I cleaned everything up, and causing havoc like I never would have imagined.  Are all boys naturally born with an instinct to be troublemakers?

Baby M had his 15-month check-up earlier this week.  He's 31 inches tall and weighs 21 lbs, 1.4 oz... slightly shorter and lighter than big sister K when she was his age.  He eats just about everything in sight, so it must be his quick metabolism.  We mentioned to the doctor that we were a bit concerned baby M hasn't really started talking yet.  He understands what we tell him and will listen if he feels like it (which is not very often), but he hasn't really started verbally communicating to us yet other than mama, dada, milk (in Chinese), and ball.  I'm actually quite surprised he isn't talking a mile a minute considering he has a big sister to model from.  In any event, the doctor said to wait until he's 18 months, and if he still hasn't progressed much, then we will have him evaluated for early intervention.

Don't let the sweet face fool you... he's a little terror.

Snow on Saturday

We received about eight inches of snow last night and woke up to a winter wonderland. This was the first snowstorm all season and big sister K was very excited to go out and play.

Here she is, cleaning the snow off her wagon:

Baby M decides to help:

Or not... he's just happy to be outside:

My little snow angel =):

 

The kids enjoying their sled ride:

I don't know who's having more fun here... big sister K or baby M:

Friday Night Family Fun

Baby M loves squeezing himself into the tiny space between the play-kitchen and box of toy foods.  When you call out his name, he'll peek his head out and smile.  You would never have guessed that he was sick with a fever and ear infection three days ago:

 Baby M finally comes out of his hiding spot:



Meanwhile, big sister K is busy putting together her princess puzzle:

 The kids playing with daddy:

Me and my boy: