Charlie's Mom: Day 3: Daycare Etiquette??

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Day 3: Daycare Etiquette??

Technically today should have been Day 4, but Charlie played hookie yesterday to spend my birthday with me and Jason at the beach. We had an absolutely fabulous time. It was nice and cloudy, so the beach was comfortable and not too crowded. After playing in the waves and enjoying my first sand birthday cake, we had lunch at Poe's (yummy!) and dessert downtown at Kaminsky's. Then, after Charlie collapsed around 6:45, we finished off the day testing out my new margarita/smoothie machine with the neighbors! It was absolutely perfect.

Back to reality this morning, though. I dropped Charlie off at about 8:45, right as his class was lining up for Outside Time, and I think this was a major mistake. Not only did he get upset and start crying, but I think it's very disruptive to the rest of the class to have us come in then. I'm going to try leaving the house a few minutes later, so hopefully we'll arrive after they get outside. I think Charlie will be more excited to stay, and we'll be less likely to cause a commotion for the teachers to try to resolve.

The whole experience made me realize that I don't really know the "rules" of daycare. I have a lot of questions, but I'm not sure who to ask. Each morning when I drop off and afternoon when I pick up, I feel like I'm disrupting the flow of the class. The teachers don't do/say anything to make me feel this way, but they are understandably distracted, which makes it hard for me to feel comfortable asking questions. Is it rude of us to arrive and leave at off times? Maybe, but I'm not going to drop Charlie off an hour earlier and pick him up an hour later...so what do I do?

Other questions I have:

I still can't remember the afternoon teachers' names. Do I ask again? Wouldn't that be completely rude to admit that I am oblivious to who is taking care of my baby?
I send a sippy cup of water and an empty sippy cup for his milk at lunch. Milk is on the menu, so I'm sure they provide it...but should I send the first cup with milk in it already?
Do I have to call in absences if we're not taking Charlie on a random day due to sickness or family in town, etc?
They don't provide a snack menu. Would it be rude to ask what they serve for snack each day and how much he's eating?
What will be worse -- if he's the biter or the bitee? I feel certain that the issue will arise, and it would be horrifying for him to come home with bite marks...but won't it be worse to find out he's biting other kids and I'm not there to do anything about it?
How long is too long to stand outside the picture window and spy on him when I go to pick him up? I don't want the teachers to feel like I'm a stalker, but I like seeing how he interacts.
Kate & Sophia's daycare takes lots of pictures of the kids and has an individual snapfish account for each that the parents can access online. How long do I wait before suggesting this to Toy Box? Do I make an anonymous suggestion or walk into the director's office and bring it up?
Am I crazy to be waiting for them to tell me that Charlie is their favorite? (ok...I know the answer to this one, but in all honesty, I keep expecting it. How could he not be!?!?)

I realize that I should just bring up these issues when I'm there, but I feel like I should already know. Plus, I feel like the teachers have more important things to do than play 20 questions with a neurotic mom.

If this kind of stuff just gets worse as kids get older, it's glaringly obvious why most teenagers hate their moms. I'm going to be a huge embarrassment to Charlie by the time he's a freshman...