18 months!

18 months...crazy...Hard to believe...but here we are.  We have a walking, jabbering, constantly giggling, yet sometimes spunky (she's a hitter), walking/almost running, little girl that we affectionately call Chubbs, Reester, Reese-a-Roni, Reesie, Chubkin, and Reese-ka-bob...oh and sometimes just Bob for short :)

She is so much fun.  Her little personality is coming out full force and that is clearly seen as she walks around our house pointing to things as she says, "No! No!"  Next week we will do a trial class for gymnastics to see if we like it, but I can pretty much guarantee we will love it!  I'm already super excited to take her.  I know she will enjoy it so much.  Nevermind that I will too!

She still eats everything, but has a bigger opinion about things.  She just likes to put her foot down every once in a while to see what kind of authority she may have.  Sometimes she won't even try her food, but if I get it up to her lips and she gets a little taste of it she's good to go.  She hasn't been enjoying milk as much these days and I'm not sure if it's because of the extreme heat (who likes milk when it's 110 degrees..yuck) or if she's just changing.

I recently took a position at a daycare/learning center that I quickly decided to quit within the first week.  That is really not like me, but it definitely was not a good fit.  I was hired for the elementary aged kids, but when I arrived I soon found out that I would permanently be with the four year old kids because they needed someone.  This shocked me a little bit being that I was hired for a different job.  Not to mention, there were 36 FOUR YEAR OLDS for two teachers.  It was very chaotic, a lot of yelling, and very little structure...which is super hard for me to deal with.  I like order...structure...and clearly set expectations.  This was not it.  The first day I was left with the remaining four and three year olds.  I didn't know the children's names,  who they were allowed to go home with, etc. etc. etc.  One parent came in looking for their child and I had no clue if they were in there.  I was told "if they make it past the front then it should be okay, even though some make it through without the front seeing them".  However, when I filled out Reese's paperwork I was asked to specify who was allowed to pick her up.  For instance, in this situation, if Uncle Tom came to pick little Bobby, but Mom didn't want little Bobby to go home with Uncle Tom we would have been in a predicament because I had no clue.

Reese came home with a huge lump on her head and I was told she "tumbled off of a stair" and after thinking about it I was like, "Why was she on a stair?"  I went in today to see her sitting on the stair in the movie room area.  She shouldn't have been sitting on there at all.  It takes 1 second for a 18 month old to tumble off of a stair.  One day I walked by and Reese is the only child in the class walking around without a shirt on and today she comes home with a nasty rash after only being there for three hours.  Another day I came in and her sippy cup was completely full.  I'm not sure what she was drinking while in there, if anything.  When she got in the car she drank the entire cup and when we got home she had another full cup.  She was SO THIRSTY.  I was also surprised that no daily report was given to me when I picked her up.  Reese went to a Mother's Day Out program when I was working there during the summer and each day I would get a sheet that told me how many dirty diapers, wet diapers, how much of her snack/lunch she ate, disposition, etc.  It was SO nice to get a report of some kind and have an idea of how her day went.

I'm sure that all of these things weren't too big of a deal, small oversights, but it was enough for me.  I'm sure there are MUCH better experiences at other daycares, but it was very interesting to get a small glimpse of the inner workings of this daycare.  Not to mention that today a boy cupped his hand around my chest and kissed my cheek.  I was blown away by this.

This experience made me feel so blessed for the opportunity to stay home with Reese.  I have taken it for granted more than I realized.  I want to be her main influence at this early stage of her life.  I want to know where every bump, scratch, rash, etc. came from.  I want to know why she is suddenly obsessed with the television (they watched a lot of movies in these classrooms) and I want to make sure that she has adequate rest.  She was only getting an hour nap before I woke her up to head to work.  She came home two different days with dark circles under her eyes.  I felt terrible.  If we weren't able to do it then I would first find every way to make it happen.  However, if I couldn't then I would be saying my prayers over little Reese and praying for her teachers on a very consistent basis and just trusting. OR I would be praying for a friend to watch her or for a family member to retire! :)    This was just a poor experience for me and it made me very grateful.