Daycare Drama

Last Friday I got a call at work from Jake's daycare. The assistant director asked if Jake could be moved up to the toddler room from the waddler room. (Waddlers are not the little babies but too young to move to the toddler room at the time they change). That is fine by me. Jake plays with the toddlers all the time. He likes to go to their room. They have chapel (which is like gym time) together. He doesn't notice that he is the smallest of all these children. He is every bit as rough and tumble as the bigger, older boys. No big deal. They are "restructuring" some of the rooms. When I went to pick up Jake on Friday I spent about half an hour talking to the head "teacher" of that room. We talked about Jake's eating and allergies. I left feeling good.

He was to start Monday but I was off so he went yesterday for the first time. I didn't get home from work until close to ten last night and he was asleep. Grandma picked him up and no big deal. I dropped him off this morning and the person there that is over the baby room told me there had been some problems yesterday. Really, problems? The people in the toddler room didn't want to feed Jake. They didn't want to mess with baby food. I don't either but he isn't ready to move on yet as hard as I might try. I was told they said they didn't have anything thing to feed him, but all of his food went to that room when he was moved. What? I was told that Jake got brought back to the baby room to be fed because they were too busy. I was not happy. I didn't ask for him to be moved. WTF! They want to feed him the "provided" lunch. We went over the menu. There were three days this month that there was a possibility he MIGHT be able to eat their lunch, IF he was willing to eat that food. No, not going to work.

I went out to my car and cried. What am I supposed to do? This is my baby. I texted Mike a little later and said I was really upset and told him what happened. Daddy was pissed. I told him that I would have to take care of it after work and maybe we need to see what else we can do for daycare. Mike said he was going to take care of it. Oh shit! Great, am I going to have enough money to bail him out of jail? It took some time but he did take care of it. He called and talked to the assistant director. We don't even know the "new" director. She has not made a point of getting out and meeting parents. However, I have not gone and presented myself at her office either. I try to get in and out as fast as possible. So he told her what I had been told this morning. She was not very happy either. He told her that we had provided them with a big list of allergies, as that was also part of their not wanting to feed him anything. She didn't know anything about his allergies. She knew there was a child there with a lot of allergies but she didn't know how bad they are and that his diet is so restricted. She said they didn't have anything in his record about it. Hello??? When he had his testing I went in and spent a lot of time with the director then and the people taking care of him. We provided them with a video about using an epipen and an actual practice pen. No one knows anything about this now.

Thank goodness today is one of the days the allergist comes to town. Mike was able to go get another DVD and another practice pen. He ordered a special bag that hangs on the wall for the his pen and it will have all his allergy information. Mike went to take the DVD and pen up and the assistant director was looking for Jake's epipen. No where to be found. It was there last week. No where at all. She asks each person. What's an epipen? I don't know what you are talking about. EVERY time he has a "new" person we go over his allergies and his potential need for an epipen. Mommy describes what signs might be that he would be in need of such shot. Mike was mad before, but now he is livid. He and the director had a disagreement. Mike offered that he could call the state. Oh no, that isn't necessary aren't making more of this than it is. Never tell Mike to calm down. It has the opposite effect.

Mike went and talked to his dad about this. Mike's dad went and got his boss. His boss is on the board of the church. He called our minister who is the acting director of the board over the daycare. The minister had already had a call from someone that the director of the daycare was rude to a parent and that a "discussion" had occurred. The minister just didn't know which parent. The director had to come introduce herself to me and every parent. She had to apologize to me and to Mike. She had to credit us with the cost of an epipen. She had to make sure every care provider in the daycare sees the video. She has to make sure every room in the daycare had allergy information posted on Jacob. (it was in his old room!) She has to take an interpersonal skills-like class that the church offers. The minister helped search for the missing epipen. She also called Mike and apologized repeatedly. She called me at work and apologized and explained to me what was going to happen. She started to cry, I started to cry. She married us, she sat with us in the hospital when Jake had pneumonia, she held him for over an hour when we had to wait to get Jake's tubes in his ears. She goes and reads to him three times a week. She also has severe allergies herself.

What a crappy day! I trust my son with these people everyday. I trust that when I tell them something they listen. I put his life in their hands. I feel awful. I am assured that everything is in order now. I like the people there. Jake loves them. He gets so excited. He was saying the names of the people working there before he said "mama". I don't know what to do. It is my church. They have one of the best preschools in town. We don't have many options but in addition to that this was supposed to be one of the two places to get into. I still feel sick. I feel better but still.