Poor Small Fry. He's hardly used* to his childminder and he's got to begin his second adaptation. The crèche called up on Monday and said they had a spot free starting in September rather than October and did we want it? I was happy with the original set-up as Small Fry could get into a nice habit with the childminder before adding nursery, but it would have meant spending an hour each day (and then decreasing amounts of time each day) with Small Fry at nursery for the first two weeks after returning from my data collection mission to Sweden - and hence right around the time when I needed to be writing my report.
So we said yes and flung Small Fry in at the deep-end. And although we've done a lot of that in terms of our travel, new experiences and new people, this time he knows something is different. This week there is a ratio of 1 adult to 1 child at the crèche and he is watched closely. I feel like I'm watched closely too to see how I respond to him. With all that watching, there's not that much interaction with him directly. I mean they protect him from passing older kids and pass him toys or talk a little like 'oh you find her interesting do you?' when he cocks his head to one side as a new playmate passes, but there's little 'oo, what have you got there?', or 'look at that big blue key'. Maybe there is when the parents are away but I feel like I have to bite my tongue - I just really want to interact with what he's touching and discovering.
There's also a ton of rules that you really only learn once you've broken them. Like today I was told to leave for 15 minutes during the hour so that Small Fry gets used to his minder, the kids, toys and space without me. Turns out what you are NOT meant to do is cry 'coucou Small Fry' when you spot him on the other side of the garden fence-type structure they have erected to make a play area. Nope, you have to go in, go up to him and then greet him.
Anyway, it's a learning curve for us all, but what his minder (Pascale) told me was that she observed that yesterday he checked I was there about once every 10 minutes. Today, when I wasn't there he was significantly less active than when I was there. Still, she said it went so well that I have to leave him there for 30 minutes tomorrow. It might have gone well from her point of view but I still ended up with a baby who wanted to be in contact with some part of my bare skin for the following couple of hours, skipped half his lunch and went to bed for a long nap. You can't tell me there's no effect on children!
Still, he seems to be one of the better ones and this afternoon I made sure he had plenty of skin contact in the baby carrier when we went off to find the swimming pool in Puteaux, one of the closest suburbs to Paris. Long story short: temperatures got to 30 degrees, kids off school, place chocka, and so us mamas went for drinks and ice-cream instead and Small Fry got pleeeeenty of time in that sling.
*Well, the adaptation happened over 1 week and started at just one hour a day, after which Small Fry wouldn't be clingy, but 'clawy'. He'd try to crawl up my neck as I was holding him and trying to leave or sit in the baby carrier and claw my neck and face trying to get out, up and closer to me. He wasn't explicitly distressed - but he kinda was in a way I didn't expect. He'd then come home and sleep straight away, wake up grumpy, play a bit with his food and just want to go back to sleep. Upside: sleeping right through the night!
