5 Things I Hate about Reilly's new Daycare

1) As some of you might remember, Reilly had a very difficult transition from breastfeeding to the bottle. The same is holding true in her transition from the bottle to the sippy cup. As I mentioned here, it's just not happening.

The first day of daycare, we brought in Reilly's food and her bottles. "Oh no," the director said, upon seeing the bottles. "It's against Pinellas County regulations for us to feed her from a bottle. She'll have to use a sippy cup." Though I tried to explain to her that Reilly would simply not drink milk from a sippy, she wouldn't give in. So, every day, Reilly has no milk between the times of 7:30am and 5:30pm (by her own choice). Consequently, she has sprouted devil horns by the time I come to pick her up. I just don't understand what the big deal is about the bottle. The way I look at it, it's just a vessel that dispenses milk, just like a sippy cup.

2) The hours at the daycare are 7:30am to 5:30pm. The morning hours are fine. What I am having a hard time with is the 5:30pm pick-up time. 5:30? What kind of working professional can make that pick-up time? I have to leave work at 4:30pm every day to ensure that I am not going to be late, and lo!-- should I be late, they'll charge me $3 for every minute after 5:30pm.

So, every day I leave work in a hurry, and spaz out in traffic worrying about being late, and honestly, after a long day at work, who needs that kind of stress?

3) The teachers don't love Reilly. One might say, well, it is not the teacher's job to love Reilly. I agree. But Jenya--Reilly's old primary caregiver from The City--loved Reilly. She had nicknames for Reilly, she hugged her, she encouraged her to walk, she gave her all of the loving attention of a parent.

I remember there were times that I was afraid that Jenya's affections would sway Reilly to her so much that our daughter wouldn't have any love left for her real parents. Now, I wish I had that problem.

4) Last week, Reilly was sick, and she got some wicked bad diaper rash. When I brought in some diaper cream for her, the director said that they couldn't apply it. When I asked what the issue was, she again said that it was against the Pinellas County daycare regulations. The fact that she said this really, seriously pissed me off, mostly because I thought the woman was lying to me, and that she uses the whole Pinellas County regulations excuse every time she doesn't feel like doing something. I had a few words with her and stormed out of the daycare, leaving my poor, chapped ass baby there to be miserable all day.

5) Every afternoon, when I go to getReilly, she is always the last to be picked up, or the second-to-last to be picked up. (See #2 above for the reason.) One day, I picked Reilly up early, and noticed how when I opened the door to the classroom, all the kids run to the door to see whose parent is there. The lucky kids gets swooped up by the parent, and the rest mope back to their seats to wait. This was a difficult realization for me--to know that Reilly runs to the door nine times every afternoon, looking for her dad, only to be disappointed.

I hate that she gets picked up last. And I hate this daycare. HATE.