Friday the 8th was a crucial day. A day I had thought about, contemplated, evaluated, and been worried sick about. It was the day to leave Suhaana at the day care for the first time.
Suhaana's nanny had left (for a 7 week vacation) the week before. As luck would have it, that was also the week when the little girl had falled ill, Raj had fallen ill and had to take sick days off from work, I had fallen ill but had too much going on at work to take days off. It was a perfect storm in that regard. As the week had wound down, luckily, everyone was on a speedy road to recovery.
Since her nanny was going to be gone, I had looked up replacement nannies and day cares in the neighborhood. And I have to say, I wasn't happy with anything. There was this friend of my friend who has a home day care, that I remembered about. Made some phone calls, arranged for a meet up at her place. All three of us had gone over to theirs'. We spent quite some time there, and we liked the lady, her family (two daughters 4 and 10), the house. It was a good option. Then, a few couple weeks back, I'd gone with Suhaana to her place and stayed there for half a day so the little girl gets accustomed to the surroundings. She seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. It was a good sign.
Finally, this friday was the day to actually leave her at the day care and be gone. My best friend had talked to about it - warned me it will be HARD. That no matter how much time I spend with Suhaana at the day care, the day I actually leave her and be gone, it will be ugly - for sometime, perhaps weeks.
Come Friday, I was worried sick about it. I got her stuff ready, and drove up to the day care. Picturing in my mind how the poor girl will feel when she turns around and doesn't find Mommy there. How she will look for me and I'd be gone - slipped out when she's not looking. How betrayed she would feel. With a heavy heart, I reached. I spent a few minutes explaining the what, when, how, how much. After sometime, the lady distracted Suhaana, showing her some toys, and I slipped out. I felt like such a complete back-stabber! A betrayer!
I gave it a little more than an hour and called up to check on her. Found out she's sleeping. She was upset before sleeping. I reasoned that that could be because she was sleepy.
I checked back after another couple of hours. How was she when she got up? Did she eat lunch? Did she play or went looking for Mommy? Did she get upset when Mommy wasn't back even now? Did she cry? I had so many questions. What I heard surprised me.
The lady said, Suhaana got up after almost 2 hours of nap. She finished her lunch (she ate properly), then she proceeded to look around for activities to do. The lady's 4 year old daughter was drawing. Suhaana hung around, playing with her. In some time, she proceeded to look for other activities. Found new toys, befriended Barnie the purple dinosour and new teddy bear - amongst others. I called up Raj who was also worried sick at work about how the day will go for Suhu. We were both relieved and pleasantly surprised.
When I came to pick her up, that's how I fond her. With Barnie in one hand, the bear in the other. I sat down on the couch with her for sometime. The good lady had made me some tea and snacks. She and I sat on the dining table, Suhaana played with the lady's older daughter on the couch. After some time, she came around to me as I chatted with the lady. At some point, Suhaana decided she'd be having more fun elsewhere, got out of my lap and was out and about.
I finally took my leave and headed back home with the little girl. At home, the evening was super charged! The little baby was so happy all evening long. That's essentially a good sign, other than the fact that Mom and Dad had a brief bout of deflated egos. We'll do this again next week.
Suhaana's nanny had left (for a 7 week vacation) the week before. As luck would have it, that was also the week when the little girl had falled ill, Raj had fallen ill and had to take sick days off from work, I had fallen ill but had too much going on at work to take days off. It was a perfect storm in that regard. As the week had wound down, luckily, everyone was on a speedy road to recovery.
Since her nanny was going to be gone, I had looked up replacement nannies and day cares in the neighborhood. And I have to say, I wasn't happy with anything. There was this friend of my friend who has a home day care, that I remembered about. Made some phone calls, arranged for a meet up at her place. All three of us had gone over to theirs'. We spent quite some time there, and we liked the lady, her family (two daughters 4 and 10), the house. It was a good option. Then, a few couple weeks back, I'd gone with Suhaana to her place and stayed there for half a day so the little girl gets accustomed to the surroundings. She seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. It was a good sign.
Finally, this friday was the day to actually leave her at the day care and be gone. My best friend had talked to about it - warned me it will be HARD. That no matter how much time I spend with Suhaana at the day care, the day I actually leave her and be gone, it will be ugly - for sometime, perhaps weeks.
Come Friday, I was worried sick about it. I got her stuff ready, and drove up to the day care. Picturing in my mind how the poor girl will feel when she turns around and doesn't find Mommy there. How she will look for me and I'd be gone - slipped out when she's not looking. How betrayed she would feel. With a heavy heart, I reached. I spent a few minutes explaining the what, when, how, how much. After sometime, the lady distracted Suhaana, showing her some toys, and I slipped out. I felt like such a complete back-stabber! A betrayer!
I gave it a little more than an hour and called up to check on her. Found out she's sleeping. She was upset before sleeping. I reasoned that that could be because she was sleepy.
I checked back after another couple of hours. How was she when she got up? Did she eat lunch? Did she play or went looking for Mommy? Did she get upset when Mommy wasn't back even now? Did she cry? I had so many questions. What I heard surprised me.
The lady said, Suhaana got up after almost 2 hours of nap. She finished her lunch (she ate properly), then she proceeded to look around for activities to do. The lady's 4 year old daughter was drawing. Suhaana hung around, playing with her. In some time, she proceeded to look for other activities. Found new toys, befriended Barnie the purple dinosour and new teddy bear - amongst others. I called up Raj who was also worried sick at work about how the day will go for Suhu. We were both relieved and pleasantly surprised.
When I came to pick her up, that's how I fond her. With Barnie in one hand, the bear in the other. I sat down on the couch with her for sometime. The good lady had made me some tea and snacks. She and I sat on the dining table, Suhaana played with the lady's older daughter on the couch. After some time, she came around to me as I chatted with the lady. At some point, Suhaana decided she'd be having more fun elsewhere, got out of my lap and was out and about.
I finally took my leave and headed back home with the little girl. At home, the evening was super charged! The little baby was so happy all evening long. That's essentially a good sign, other than the fact that Mom and Dad had a brief bout of deflated egos. We'll do this again next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment