Back to Work
I returned to work on June 23, and S started daycare. On the first morning we took him, I cried so hard I could barely speak. The funny part is that we only planned to leave him there for about 3 hours that day! :) But it was still a very hard day knowing that he would not be with us. We made last week a transition week with him going for a few hours for a couple of days, then staying through lunch one day, and finally going for a full day on Friday. This seemed to work well, as he seems to have made a good transition so far. Each time we've picked him up, as soon as he sees us, he holds his arms out and comes to us. We know this is a positive sign of attachment, and we praise God for this! Since I had such a hard time leaving him the first day, Michael has taken him the rest of the days until today. I took him this morning, and when I started to leave, he began to cry. While I was sad he was crying, I was also happy that he is showing a little separation anxiety, too. I stayed outside his room for a minute to make sure he was okay. Once his teacher consoled him and got him interested in some toys, he was fine and I felt better about leaving.
We were very concerned about attachment before meeting S and before bringing him home. We attended several adoption classes that discussed this topic during our wait, and I read a few books that talked about attachment and even started others that were so scary I had to put them down. But we have been so blessed that he has done well in this area in the few months that we have been home. We prayed for this and know that others prayed as well, and God definitely answered our prayers.
After the tests last week, S has been eating a little better. We followed some of the recommendations of the speech pathologist and discovered that S loves chicken salad and tuna salad! For a child who is very finicky about food, he gobbles these up! :) His teachers at school told us he is eating pretty well there, too, and we have been so happy to hear the good reports so far. Our pediatrician said that "peer pressure" may help with his eating, and this seems to be the case. Also, he has been drinking a lot more Pediasure! We're going through more than a pack a week (6 bottles in a $10.99 pack!), and he is generally drinking at least one bottle per day, which is around 240 calories. We're very grateful for this, too. And today, he drank (not just a sip and be done with it) several ounces of whole milk! We've been working on this for several weeks, so this was an exciting moment for us! :)
Below is a picture of S enjoying his chicken salad as well as a few other pictures from the past few weeks...
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Check out my cute tennis shoes! :)
17 comments:
I LOVE the chicken salad picture!
I'm so glad that S is bonding well. He is such a beautiful little boy.
take care,
Renae and Joe
Leaving your child for the 1st time is always very hard. This past week Bubby and PPAL went to day camp (3 hours each day). They are in separate programs (Bub doing adventure camp with older kids & PPAL doing gym n cheer w/preschoolers) at the same facility. When I left Bubby, I cried like a baby in my car. I felt the older kids were going to pick on my baby. He LOVED it and couldn't wait to go back. I also bawled when he started preschool; I don't even want to think about this fall when he and PPAL start all day kindergarten. It's funny, even though we adopted them at the same time; I see him as my oldest & any firsts that he does I cry. My mom told me, it's always harder on the mom. Ain't that the truth!!
...sorry for the long post. Glad that S is doing so well. What a cutie!!!
I am so glad to see this update. Thanks so much! I have been wondering how everything was going! My boys love chocolate milk. Their doctor told us he didn't care what the milk had in it as long as they were drinking it. Glad to hear things are going well! He is just growing and looking more precious each day!
What a doll!! So glad he is eating better and liking the Pediasure. I know how hard it was to leave him at daycare the first day!! It still is hard some days!
We did the first week of transitioning him at daycare as well, though he wasn't easy on me. I think every mom crys that first day. I still hate bringing him to school everyday, but I know it's good for him. I'm sure you are so excited to see his smiling face when you walk in each afternoon! Glad to hear he is eating and drinking better. I was hoping peer pressure would work with Bryson's eating, but it hasn't. I would like to try the chicken and tuna salad with him. We don't eat either. Could you please email the recipe or how you make them. By the way, love the pictures. He is too cute!
Hi! I found you from Becky's blog and have read for a while. I will second the previous poster's comments about chocolate (and strawberry) milk. Our son wouldn't drink milk at all and between mostly strawberry milk and daycare I now get him to drink a couple of glasses per day. Also don't forget other dairy items like yogurt, cheese and even jello pudding. At this point it doesn't really matter how he gets the dairy only that he gets it. We also gave him calcium guy bears for a while until his dairy intake picked up.
Also the peer pressure thing worked wonders for us. One of the teachers told us last week she knew our son wasn't feeling well because he only had one bowl of cereal at breakfast instead of 2 or 3 like usual! So I don't worry much about his eating at home since I know he's eating great at school, even things I can't get him to eat at home.
Glad to hear that S is doing well with daycare and that the eating is going better! The pictures are just so cute! Thanks for sharing!
I'm glad the daycare situation is going well for S. I love his water wings, they are about the size of him! His blue eyes are going to be melting hearts when he gets older.
Little S is so adorable. We can relate to the expensive pediasure and difficulty with weight gain. We also rejoice when our little man drinks more than a sip of milk or eats half a meal. Sounds like you have a great daycare. Trust me - it gets easier to leave.
I think leaving them at daycare is harder on the parents than them. I called and checked on Liam every hour the first few days he was there and they assured me that after we walked out the door he immediately started playing and having fun with the other kids.
He's just tooooooooo adorable!
I'm so glad he's eating well now - you guys are obviously doing a great job!
Hi Carrie - That is so great that S is eating better - What a blessing! That sounded so hard on his first day of daycare - I am going to dread that day when it comes (seems very far away still!)
I am so glad you all are doing well! Take care...Teresa
I'm glad that he is doing so well! I can't imagine how hard it was for you to leave. Caleb starts preschool in the fall, and I was the crazy mom that cried when I dropped off his registration form last month!!! Oh, me. You'll have to give me some advice on coping with that! Thanks for the update, we've been anxiously checking!
Glad he's eating better.
Your transitioning him into daycare sounds like a great way to do it. Glad it went well.
Oh goodness, if you balled your eyes out I know I will too. If your phone rings and you can't understand the person on the other end of the line, it will just be me! :-) I'm so glad S is eating better - sounds like he'll be packing on the pounds before you know it! I'm so glad attachment is going well - I'm scared to death of that part of the adoption!
I know how hard it is to leave your child and return to work. Although it gets easier in time, you never truly get over the feeling of wanting to stay home. It sounds like S is doing very well which is a good sign. I'm so glad attachment is going so well for you. Ours is getting better every day, but I think adopting an older child does slow down the attachment process.
I'm so glad that S's eating habits are getting better too. I know that is a relief. Especially with him starting daycare. I have heard that peer pressure helps too. We hope this will help our little one with numbers and colors. She just doesn't seem very interested to work with us.
I'm so glad you are doing well. We think about you often and hope to come visit soon!
I remember how hard it was to leave Max at first! I do think daycare has made mine a little social butterfly- still hate leaving them...
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