Moms' Night at Daycare

Tuesday night was Moms' Night at Daycare.  We were invited to come for an hour and see what our kids do during the day.  It started at 6:30pm, so we had around an hour to go home, eat, change clothes, give Miles a bath, and get back to daycare.  In that hour, Miles was awful.  I threatened the whole way back to daycare that we would leave if he started acting up.  

The first thing we did was circle time.  Miles & Thomas sitting on their mats...

Miles & Amelia acting silly before circle time started...

I wish I could say that this picture exemplified his behavior.  He looks so polite and respectful...raising his hand and all...

After circle time, which is where they talk about the calendar & the weather each day, we went to our first learning center.  This one, lead by Mr. Josh, focused on letters and fine motor skills.  The kids had fun throwing balls at letters on the wall...

Miles & Avery Reece at the second learning center, where they had to match puzzles together...

Third, we went to Ms. Glenda's learning center and put on a snowman show.  Miles and I are actually holding the two snowmen like puppets....it's just hard to see us in the picture...

We went to the math learning center last, but I don't have any pictures b/c I was trying to manage Miles and the marker that he was holding.  It ended up all over his face, so I probably should have just taken pictures.

After the night was over, we had some refreshments.  This picture quality is terrible, but I had to include it.  This is Miles' friend, Alex Pitz.  He always calls him by both names b/c there is also an Alex Belew in his class.  Miles tells me frequently that Alex Pitz is his only friend.  Sometimes he tells me that no one else is nice to him.  I try not to make too much of it b/c he seems to like daycare and rarely puts up a fight to go.  Actually most days he's asking us when we can leave the house.  The other day I asked him who he played with that day.  He said, "Alex Pitz only.  I go with Alex Pitz b/c he's nice to me."  I asked the teachers if they play together a lot and she said "sometimes".  Who knows the whole story when you are getting it from a 3 year old.

Miles & Ms. Mercedez.  He loves her hair :)

As I said, I wish the picture of Miles raising his hand showed what our night was like.  Unfortunately, I think it's safe to say that he was the rowdiest one there.  He was laying down during circle time and never listened as the teachers gave directions at each learning center.  One time the teacher even got onto him while I was standing right there.  I've thought about it a lot since Tuesday. I parent a lot different than I thought I would.  Darrin and I are both pretty laid back.  Are we too laid back?  We let Miles get away with more than I ever thought we would, and probably more than we should.  Don't get me wrong, the kid has structure....we have rules and we do the time out thing.  But, we let a lot go too.  I've learned that you could find something to get onto kids about 24/7 if you wanted to.  It's exhausting for us and I just don't want to break his little spirit.  I'd rather worry about bigger picture things.  Even as I type, that sounds like a cop out.  For now, I think Darrin and I are pretty comfortable with how we are choosing to raise Miles.  He's a handful, but he's happy, healthy, he's nice to his friends, and he LOVES us.  It's always good to do some self reflection, which is what Tuesday night caused me to do, but for now we're going to keep on keeping on.