The Real Vamps of Leander

Forget fictional vampires like Edward Cullen, I know where the real vampires lurk in our neighborhood: our local daycares. Yes, it's true, Cameron suffered his first biting attack from another child at daycare yesterday, although when the director called, she affectionately referred to it as a "love bite." Apparently, Cameron's teacher was busy preparing lunch when the other child bit him on the forearm, so the teacher's not sure if the attack was provoked or not. I was: A) doubtful that Cameron provoked the attack, B) relieved to hear the little vamp's bite didn't break the skin, and C) surprised at how small the teeth mark was on Cam's arm. Anyways, he cried for a minute and then wanted to eat lunch, so I guess he wasn't traumatized!

I also deduced it must be policy not to reveal the identity, or even the gender, of the biter. Both when the director called and in the formal incident report they gave me, all that was mentioned was "the other child." The director assured me that "the other child's" parents would be notified that he/she bit another child and that they would monitor behavior to see if there is a repeat pattern between "the other child" and Cameron. Little vamp.

I know I'm biased, but I think Cameron is such a sweet little boy, and it makes me a little sad to think he's going to start learning bad behavior like biting. I just hope I don't get a phone call soon, saying that Cameron is the biting offender.

Last night, it only felt apropros to read "The Tooth Book" by Dr. Seuss for Cameron's bedtime story. Mike, his ever-witty self, spontaneously added a final verse to the book, "And when you're not tough enough to make a fist, a mean kid will bite you on the wrist." Another teachable moment by Dr. Graves.

Daycare Update

This week marks Cameron's third week in part-time daycare. He's still adjusting, but I think he's slowly getting used to it. When I pick him up in the afternoon, he seems pretty happy, although he also seems very relieved to see me. Mike, on the other hand, may be the one who's having the most difficult adjustment. He tells me every day he hates dropping him off, because he can't stand Cameron's screaming when he leaves. He hates being the bad cop, while I get to be the good cop. What can I say? I guess I'm the Phil Dunphy in this relationship. :)

Last week, Cameron's teacher gave us an update, which I thought I'd share with you:

"Cameron is getting much more comfortable exploring the classroom (without his blanket!) and interacting with the other children on his own. We had a messy lunch today, but he loved the sloppy joes. :) He enjoyed reading books, playing with the animals with some of the other boys, and is very interested in all of the toys on the manipulatives shelf. Just a few pictures to show how he's doing - I know drop-off can be tough, but we're making lots of progress and seeing more smiles every day. He's a really sweet boy, and we're so glad to have him. :)"

Funny side note: this was Mike's initial response to reading the report, "This picture makes it look like we're sending our child to a nudist daycare."

He Survived

Cameron started daycare today. Things haven't been boding well for this day - when we've taken him to the child care at church or gym recently, the workers have had to come find us because he's crying. In fact, it was seeming like 45 minutes is about his threshhold of tolerance for strangers, so 5-6 hours at daycare seemed daunting. Needless to say, we were a little wary about what today would be like. It was a little tenuous, but he survived.

Mike dropped him off around 11:00 AM this morning. When he left, he said Cameron started screaming immediately. This made Mike feel very sad. On the contrary, I get the fun job of picking him up, so I arrived at the daycare around 4:15 PM. As soon as I opened his classroom door, I heard him crying. And it was that hoarse crying, so I knew he'd cried and cried and cried today. The teacher said he had just started crying right before I arrived because he saw other parents pick up their kids. She said he cried off and on the entire day. When he wasn't crying, he explored a little and also tried to steal other kids' animal crackers at snack time. (Our kid is THAT kid!) The teacher gave me a daily report, and on the section that said, "Today, I seemed to be...(fill in the blank)", she wrote, "Happy!" Does this look like the face of a happy child to you?!?


When we got home, things went from bad to worse for the poor kiddo: not only did he fall off our bed and land awkwardly on his neck, but he also dove face first into one of his plastic cars. All in all, a rough day! Now he gets one day to recuperate tomorrow before heading back to daycare on Wednesday...