I Don't Get It

I don't know if maybe I sound like a broken record with the daycare frustrations. I don't normally post when it's a good day so of course it looks like I'm more unhappy than I am. I love the fact that when I pull up to Judy's house, Miles does a little happy dance before I even get him out of the car seat. I love the fact that he goes to her eagerly and with a smile in the morning. And also I need to hold my place there for the times I do have work... so we are still employing her.

But today was a bad day. We sent Miles for a half day so we could clean the house completely - badly needed and it took us the full four hours. In the last few days at home he's been clearly transitioning to one nap a day so I thought if anything his half days at Judy's should get easier.

When I showed up at 12:30 she again did that thing where she flung open the front door before I was even up to the porch. Miles was crying and did a little half-hysterical sobbing laugh of relief when he saw me. Judy said he'd been crying for an hour and was obviously tired... she was about to try to put him down for a nap when I showed up.

So, I'm confused.

If you missed the backstory on this, all the other kids transitioned to one nap a while ago, and go down at 1pm. She couldn't get Miles to sleep while everyone was up playing in the morning and she stopped even trying. But by 1pm he was so overwrought that he wouldn't sleep and she was on the verge of making him Cry It Out... when my work dried up and I stopped sending him in for full days. Delaying the nap issue for the time being.

But I just don't understand, if you have a child screaming for a full hour and you know it's because he's tired... WHY don't you try to put him down for a nap? And the icing on the cake was that the oldest kid was already napping when I showed up. So - she got put down but not my screaming baby? What is that about?

And the cherry on top was the annoyed attitude that she had about the situation. She doesn't charge a ton of money but we DO pay her for two full days that we barely use... she had him for four hours... and I know crying babies are stressful but this is her JOB. On a personal level it makes me feel bad that it's such a chore for her to deal with my son.

Mr. Ibis was very annoyed by this story when I told him. He wishes we didn't have to use her at all anymore... and maybe we should start looking around. But we will still be in the situation of having to pay basically for a placeholder spot. Unless we can find an affordable on call babysitter, OR I make some kind of WAH move soon. I don't know what the answer is right now.