He starts school!

A milestone for my boy.. he started his child care this week.

Day 1, Mon 3 Aug
Went down to collect the form and let him roam around the centre. He kinda love playing with the toys/books there. But then I was there during their bathing time. It was funny seeing the kids sitting (some even crying while waiting) for their turn to bath in open area (in the centre).
Had a hard time getting D to leave the centre .. It was good to see him enjoying himself there.
I was briefed by the principal on what to expect e.g. crying , falling sick.. and I was given a choice to accompany D on his first few days or leave him there.

Day 2, Tue 4 Aug
Kevin and I went down at 8.40am. I settled registration matter in the office while D had his b'fast with his friends. Abit distracted as he keep running to his Daddy.
We picked him up at 11.30am after his lunch. He was crying but stopped when he saw us.
Teacher feedback: He was ok during lesson but cry during lunch

Day 3, Wed 5 Aug
I sent him at 8.45am.. showed him where to place his bags and shoes in the shelf then sat down a while with him while he eat his b'fast. When teacher was distracting him.. i quickily left the centre and went for my breakkie. Decided to go back to centre at 10am to take a look.

My heart shattered seeing him cry while they were getting ready to go to playground. But he stopped when he was out of centre and played happily with his friends.

Picked him up at 11.30am after he had taken his lunch. He was crying when the teacher was bathing him. But stopped again when he saw me.

Day 4, Thurs 6 Aug
Kevin and I sent him in at 8.45am.. he cried when I took out his shoes. I gave him a hug and bade goodbye.. quickily left the centre.. then I heard him cry 'Mummy Mummy'. So tempted to grab him back.
We picked him up after his bath. This time he did not cry during the bath.. but was crying after that while waiting for us.

Day 5, Fri 7 Aug
I sent him down.. he cried again and I left hurriedly after saying goodbye. Today I left him there till 2.30pm. Teacher complain that he refuse to sleep and was waiting at the entrance for me. He was not crying.

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Teacher feedback:
~ They are puzzled why he only cry during meal times.. perhaps when he sees food = miss my cooking? Otherwise he will cry on-off. But quite attentive during lesson.

~ They told me he was generally quite well-behaved in class when I'm not around(surprise surprise!! no complaints on him bullying his friends) and noticed that once he sees me, he start pulling alphabets off the foam mat.

~ He no longer cry when they bath him.

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As a Mummy:
I felt bad sending him to a foreign place all a sudden. Seeing him crying for me and yet I was so hard hearted to leave him.
He cried so hard that his voice was hoarse when I picked him up. He would lie his head on my shoulder and looks so happy to see me.

I'm very thankful that the Teachers were very encouraging to me. They kept assuring me that D's behaviour is very normal for a newbie and told me to give D some time to settle down.

However they are some issues that I'm not very comfortable:
Toilet Training:
Seem like D refuse to tell the teacher and did not co operate in sitting on the potty when they brought him there. So I will reduce his morning milk feed to 180ml.

Napping:
D refuse to nap with the kids on the mattress so teacher have to carry and rock him but he woke up when they placed him back on the mattress. Anyway he only started his nap last Fri. So I shall wait and see. Hopefully he will get used to sleeping w/o me.

Milk:
Their routine is to give milk before their nap. I told them not to give D before his nap as he is already trained not to drink milk before sleep. So they agreed to give him after he woke up unless he ask for it before nap.
And Principal told me that they will start toilet train all the kids in Nov/Dec. SO hopefully D will be off diaper during nap and also be able to tell them when he need to pee/poo.