Good day, bad day

[ailbhe]

Linnea woke at the crack of dawn to use the loo, and stayed up because it was light. Rob found her when he got up shortly after six.

Emer was up until about 2:30.

When the girls and I got up I dressed and fed us, then packed lunches and hung out the laundry, ready to leave at 9:30 for art, but thankfully the girls didn't want to go. So instead I cleared the kitchen surfaces, which was horrendous - I spent most of last week unable to stand for long so the kitchen was disgusting, things stuck to the surfaces and piles of stuff on top of old food.

Really, really vile.

Anyway, I did it, and did more laundry, and cleared the bathroom and the rest of the ground floor, and got us all out at noon so that I could drop the girls at nursery and go to my appointment.

The creche-facility nursery has four steps outside the front door. Emer started to cry as we stepped onto the first step. By the time I rang the bell she was crying a lot and shouting "No! No!"

I had to leave her, so I fed her some milk and left her, and went to my appointment, and came back and got her. She'd refused to eat lunch and fallen asleep. In her sleep she looked waxy pale and miserable. Her cheeks were sort of veined-looking from crying. I picked her up and she cried in her sleep before waking up, then she cried some more. I picked her up into the mei tai in a front carry, so she was snuggled into me, but she was miserable. Beyond miserable. More miserabler than that.

I'm not leaving her there again. "She'll get used to it" is all very well but she already has several mannerisms and intensities which remind me of Unny and I'm not doing this to a child with that disposition! So now I need to find some other childcare for a couple of hours every other Monday for a bit. I know a childminder who might have spaces.

---

After that I bought her a new cycle helmet and we went to buy stuffing for dinner. Waterstones sucked us in and we got some books for the trip to Ireland on Friday, and Linnea got a reward for having finally cracked the toilet learning thing (though still gets her pants on wrong sometimes). She got a Charlie and Lola magazine.

Then we went to Sainsburys for stuffing for dinner, and then to a cafe to collapse. In the end I didn't do that dinner, but we can have it tomorrow.

I am so, so tired. But really, achieved a lot.

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

What's the crack of dawn around where you are at this time of year?

[ailbhe]

It's light enough to keep people awake by 3:50. I don't know when she got up though - her room has blackout fabric over the window.

[rmc28]

Emer's reaction reminds me of how Charles reacted to the creche at Eastercon - first time apparently ok, second time unhappy very quickly, third time crying as we went in the door. I was lucky, we only 'needed' the childcare in order to have fun, and we worked around it.

Best of luck finding something better suited to her.

[helenprev.livejournal.com]

I still get my pants on wrong sometimes and I'm 35... ;-)

That sounds like an incredibly productive day. Good luck with finding alternative childcare; I hope you find something that Emer will love. :-)

[k425.livejournal.com]

I think you can tell when a child is going to "get used to" something like that, and it looks as though Emer isn't. I hope you find something she enjoys instead.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Yes, "she'll get used to it" is a risky one. She might, but at what cost?