Our First Time With Back Up Daycare Was Great!

I scheduled a two-day training at work, not realizing until after it was too late to reschedule that my son's school was closed today. "Professional Development Day." Ugh. Really? On a Tuesday???

I panicked a bit but then found a friend who wanted to babysit for the day. Great! I got some free passes to the Science Museum, wrote up the address of the YMCA and patted myself on the back for being so industrious.

Then this morning I check my email and my babysitter had sent me a message saying she was sick. Aside from the fact that she really should have called instead of leaving me an email, I was now panicking again. What was I going to do? I HAD to go to work today. But now I had literally 30 minutes to figure out what I was going to do with my child for the day. I then had the bright idea to use the back up childcare my company offers through Bright Horizons.

I wasn't sure how Christopher would react because new experiences scare my kiddo terribly. After being bounced around from foster home to foster home, he used to be so afraid of change. He apparently would ask his caregiver when dropped off at daycare in the morning, "am I going to still live with you tonight?" He didn't know if the foster parent dropping him off was still going to be his foster parent when it was time to be picked up. How scary!

Even when life settled down for him with me, he still has some strong reactions to change. In his pre-school, just when they switched rooms he would have a week of bad behavior in response. When his friends who were a year older left at the end of the summer to go to Kindergarten, this set off even more bad behavior. Change was NOT my son's friend. So that said, how was he going to react to an entirely new daycare?

I can honestly say, he handled it GREAT! He was a little afraid at first but as soon as he found another child to play with, he was fine. When I dropped lunch off for him at noon, I expected him to come running over to me crying, begging me to take him home ... but he barely acknowledged me. The kids were all in circle time and he was having a great time participating. I didn't interrupt.

Then when it was time to go, he asked me if he could come back again someday because it was a fun day. Wow!! That's so huge for my little kiddo. And such a huge relief for me. I now know I have more options for vacations and Professional Development days. I am just so thrilled that my kiddo is coming along so nicely. Well done Christopher. Well done.

Happy Labor Day!

Today is Labor Day in the US and I will celebrate the holiday by only doing the "mom" part of my usual "working mom" job. Thankfully it started off well...my son let me sleep all the way to 7:00 am today. That's like sleeping until noon in pre-kid life. Haha!

I actually really needed this three-day week because my job has really burnt me out. Yes I know it's only been a few weeks since I came back from vacation but they have been some pretty intense weeks. Sadly, I don't see it getting any easier in the foreseeable future, either.

I am a business analyst for an global financial services firm located in downtown Boston. I work in the Marketing Department and specialize in systems that create productivity and revenue lift for the sales and marketing teams. We are short-handed, yet trying to accomplish a lot. Right now I'm in the midst of implementing three different products with two vendors, creating a business case for funding for a new CRM, creating a business case for 2014 funding for the two products that we're implementing now and last but not least...completing the discovery process (i.e. deciding if this is the right fit for us) for a fifth product. Much of this work all has a due date of September 30th and my task list is currently a seven-page Excel spreadsheet. I'm a bit stressed these days. And often exhausted.

Add to this that Christopher starts Kindergarten tomorrow so we'll be completely changing our routine in the midst of all our craziness. Starting tomorrow, I will need to drop him off at 7 am and pick him up at 5:30. That's a long day for a little kid but I don't know what else to do. The school doesn't allow rolling drop-offs and pick ups (doors are locked for safety reasons) so I have to fit my schedule to the school's schedule. With a one-hour commute to work (longer when the T runs with delays, which happens often) I don't have much leeway. It is what it is.

I feel guilty about the long day but I always comfort myself with the knowledge that no matter how tough it is, it's still going to be better than foster care. Also, September will pass and the rest of the year should be a bit easier. Just don't be surprised if you don't hear from me too much this month. We're busy busy busy!