Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Daycare adventure....Days 1 and 2

Day 1

I am in Portland watching my friends daycare while she is in Australia with her middle daughter, Alexis. I am in charge of up to 10 kids every, including my own and her 2 other kids.

I arrived on Sunday (Mother's Day) around 8:30. My car fully loaded with 2 weeks worth of clothes, dog stuff, toys, and very tired children and dog. We unloaded and I finally put the kids to bed around 9:00. I unfortunately, could not sleep at all. I tried going to bed at 10:30 but just laid there. I am not used to sleeping without my husband plus Jann's bed is just not as comfy as mine. I tossed and turned, texted Jay at 3:30 in the morning that I couldn't sleep. I finally fell asleep around 4:15 but was rudely awaken by her alarm at 4:45 and that was it for sleep for me.

The first daycare kid got here at 6:45 and another followed a few minutes later. Nothing too exciting happened until 3:45 when 2 little kids showed up with THEIR DOG! I was shocked that the parents would think it would be OK, and didn't even bother asking if it was OK. They just brought this little puppy with the kids and left. The little girl promptly informed me that the dog has lots of accidents inside. I was like "Are you fucking kidding me, I have already been puked on numerous times today so I wreak like vomit, I am SO tired, and now I am being forced to clean up after another person's dog. I am not getting paid enough!" but I emailed Jann to ask about what the law is on dogs at daycare. I had to inform the parents that night that the dog was not allowed again and they said it was just a one time thing. I wanted to say it should have been a never thing, but was too tired to make my point. Once the last kid left at 6:00, I made dinner for my 3 kids (Jann's kids were with their dad), popped my sleeping pills, cleaned the kitchen, took the kids outside to play, bathed Kenzie, read all of my kids a story and sent them to bed. And then I just sat in the living room, bored and tired. So I called my husband and we talked for a bit. Jann doesn't have cable, her DVD player barely plays movies and when it does, it skips or freezes every 10 minutes, and I just couldn't focus on a book. I finally gave in to the pills and boredom and was in bed by 9:30 and asleep by 10:00.

The next morning, I was up by 5:30 because Jann's ex was supposed to drop Aaron off around 5:45 on his way to work. He didn't even show up until 6:00. I was then showered and dressed by 6:30, and went to make coffee. Unfortunately, the coffee maker kind of blew up and coffee grounds were everywhere. This was not the best start of the day. I had to wait for the fucking thing to cool down before I could clean it up and start a new pot. The kids started arriving at 6:45, and then it was time to get Jann's kids and Mason up to get ready for school. Mason of course fought me the whole way, Aaron wouldn't get up, and I said if they missed the bus they were stuck at daycare all day because I couldn't leave to take them to school. That got them up! I took the dogs outside to pee while I waited at the bus stop with the older kids and Charlie, the stupid dog, ran away. I couldn't leave the kids so I had to wait it out. Luckily he came back unharmed on his own about a half an hour later. The rest of the morning when without incident, except for getting puked on a bunch by the baby. He came very close to puking in my mouth once. Yummy.

I happened to notice around 9:00 that the money Jann had left me for incidental stuff was gone. I looked everywhere but couldn't find it. I knew the little kids hadn't done it because they couldn't see it which left the older kids. I asked Evan and the other 5 year old if they had seen it, going so far as to check pockets just in case. I wasn't sure when it had gone missing, I just knew it had been there Monday morning around 7:00. I got to thinking about who had the opportunity to take it, and was left with one kid. She has gotten in a lot of trouble so she is banished to the kitchen every day, alone, where she cannot hurt the other kids or get into trouble. On Monday, I had all the daycare kids, minus her, outside the whole time. They were all with me all the time. The money was by the phone in the kitchen, and numerous times, when the phone had rung, she had brought it out to me. I emailed Jann and asked her if she thought this girl was capable of it, and she said she would be surprised if she had done it.

Anyway, once all the older kids got there, I brought them all in the kitchen, told them to bring me their backpacks, and said that I knew someone had stolen the money and I was pretty sure I knew who did it. I said that I was going to search pockets and backpacks just in case. And then I told them, "I am giving you until the end of the day today to put it back. No questions asked, you won't get in trouble, just put it back. If it isn't back, I am calling your parent and telling them what I think happened." So I started going through backpacks, and I noticed she had taken something out and hid it. I asked her what it was, and she said it was some art stuff she had used. I knew she was lying but I left it alone. Once I checked everyone (my kids and Jann's kids included), I sat at the desk, not wanting her to have a chance to put the money back in her bag. But my ex showed up with some of Mason's stuff and I had to leave the room. As I was talking to Sean, she comes running out going "Christie, look, someone put the money back, isn't that cool" and I was like "Yeah, that is pretty neat." I didn't mention it to her dad because I had said I wouldn't question anything. But I did tell Jann the story and told her to handle it from there. I had gotten the money back so my part was over.

Man! The drama of in-home daycare is insane!

Stay tuned for more adventures ! I have nothing to do so I will try and give you the high points every day. Yeah you.

4 comments:

Amanda said...

this made me tired. what possessed you to volunteer for something like this?!

Christie said...

I volunteered months ago, not thinking it would be that big of a deal. But is SO is. I already told her I'm done doing this. It is just too big of a production for me now.

Oh, did I mention that today was my wedding anniversary? Because it is. And I'm in Portland and he's in Seattle.

Anonymous said...

I always kind of thought that having an in home day care would be an ideal job - not having to leave, seeing your kids, and seriously? Each kid is worth what? At least $600/month. But then I started working in a school, and I realized that although I think my kid is pretty damned cool, that doesn't mean I universally like children. They are bad for sanity.

Have some Happy Anniversary phone sex for entertainment tonight!

Brooke said...

Oh my LORD! I got tired just reading that.

And happy anniversary! Go get a big bottle of something!