The Week in Review

Tuesday was a little rough for Gracie being back to daycare and back to school.  It took her a bit to get on the bus to go to school.  She finally went to the bus with the parent of another little boy in her daycare class.  Gracie's teacher at school said she cried more than she has ever seen her cry at school and she would not participate in anything until about 11:00 a.m.  Her school day ends at 11:30 a.m.  She did have a good afternoon at daycare though, so I felt better about that. 

On Wednesday, I accompanied Gracie to daycare for a Hibernation Party.  All the parents of her daycare class were invited to join them to drink hot chocolate, listen to a story about a bear who was hibernating, and then they could bring a favorite stuffed animal and put it in the cave they had made.  Doesn't this sound like fun?  Well for all the other kids in her class it was great fun.  For Gracie who gets overwhelmed easily it was NOT fun.  I could tell from the moment the other parents started arriving that Gracie's routine was being messed with and she was very unsettled.  She didn't want to join in the fun, yet she did.  When everyone else was drinking hot chocolate she insisted she didn't want any, then realized she really did, but didn't want to sit at the table with everyone, but then did want to, but on the way decided maybe it wasn't a good idea and got upset and threw her hot chocolate everywhere on herself, me, and the floor.  Let me say that through all of this the other mothers and kids were simply wonderful, as was her teacher. 

Gracie had school this day, so knowing this would probably be a bit much for her, I chose to drive her to school rather than adding the bus to her day.  On the way out of the room she decided she didn't want to go and layed on the floor face down having a small tantrum.  I finally talked her up and we got to the car under her own power, with mommy encouraging her all the way.  Once in the car, the switch flipped and she was happy, delightful, no longer overwhelmed, and happy to be going to school.  Once she got to school she was excited about it.  While we waited for her teacher a little girl named Miriam came off the bus and gave her a great big hug.  Miriam told me that she and Gracie sometimes sit together on the bus.  Then I found out that both of Gracie's teachers were gone for the day, as was her speech pathologist, and one of the two para's from her room.  I was very relieved to see the para that we know and love and Gracie was too happy to go with her.  She also got a big hug from another little boy that rides her bus that is in her class, I suspect he is the one that has a few behavioral issues, but Gracie seemed to be fine with him as well. 

I was pretty sure we were going to have a difficult evening....not so!  Gracie was happy and delightful all night.  I was shocked.  Yesterday (Thursday) night was the same.  She was in a great mood and had a great day at both daycare and school.  My assessment from all of this is Gracie really likes daycare, she really likes school, I even think the bus is okay.  I think Gracie's biggest challenge is the transitions between each. 

Gracie had a pretty restless night, she seemed stuffed up again.  I hope she's not coming down with another cold.  She still has a cough from the previous one.  She has a different teacher at daycare on Fridays and she was a little tentative at first this morning, but did fine once she warmed up. 

I'm hoping our beautifully warm temps will stay through the weekend so we can do some playing outside.

Have a great weekend.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie