The musings of ME:
SAH mother of 3 kids, spouse of a doctor-in-residency, caretaker and teacher of random children.


Monday, August 4, 2008

First Day "On the Job"

Today was the official first day of school at Bright Idea Learning Center, and I think it went fairly well. I have 5 kids enrolled right now plus my 11-month-old, but only 2 started today. The rest will start on August 18th or 25th, when EMS-ISD starts back to school. I feel blessed that it worked out this way because that way I can train 2 children (who have never been in a structured child care program) what our routines are and the procedures are for centers, lunchtime, naptime, etc. and then they can help me train the 3 others when they start.

The challenge for me today was that the 3-year-old isn't potty trained. I haven't ever potty trained a child before, but I got him to use the potty 2 times on his own today, so I was impressed with myself. One time he needed a little coaching from me, but the second time I helped him up on the potty, and he just started going on his own, yeah! Since his mom had already started the process, I'm hoping I will have him mostly trained in the 2 weeks. We are going to work hard on it, anyway. If you have any tips for potty training boys, let me know. The thing is that if I don't have him trained by the time the other kids start, then I will have 3 kids in diapers - that could be rough!

For children who haven't ever been in structured child care before, they were really good! They were fairly obedient, one more than the other, but she is older than he is, so that is to be expected. Plus, she is a natural leader, so she really motivated him to follow the rules, and listen to "my words." She is part of the reason we were slightly successful with using the potty today. He wanted to use the potty like big kids do, not wear a diaper like Jackson does.

One hitch in the day is that he didn't take a nap. He is used to napping in a closed room with a fan in his comfortable bed, not on a nap mat in an open room with all kinds of fun toys around him tempting him, with me doing household duties in the living room. I was worried that Jackson's schedule would conflict with BILC daily schedule, but it didn't. Evrything worked out smoothly.

Anyway, I have things to do to ready myself for tomorrow...

8 comments:

Rachel said...

Glad to hear that it went fairly well. How many more spots do you have open? What are you charging? I have a friend who has a 4 year old and they are looking to enroll him in a more "school like" enviroment. Plus with how awesome you are... it would be great!

Good Luck with DAY TWO!!

Kathy said...

I was excited to hear how your first day went. I am happy for you! Good luck with it!

nikko said...

I'm so glad your first day went well. Good luck with the potty training. I've trained two boys with two more to go, and I have no hints. ;o) Just keep on plugging away!

Lana said...

awesome!
I can't wait to read about how it's going!

I have a good life said...

I hope you get a lot of rest tonight. It sounds like, all in all, it will be a huge success. I am not surprised, though...you are so awesome at all you do! :)

Shana said...

GREAT JOB GIRL! Sounds like it went pretty dang good for a first day!
I know you will do well with this. How awesome is it that you can use your degree that you worked so hard for AND be home with your own child? AWESOME!!!
Good luck tomorrow! :)

marcia@joyismygoal said...

That is Great, I hope everyday brings new fun and success to keep it fresh for you

Colleen said...

Hey, thanks everyone for commenting! I feel so loved!

Rachel - I have 5 spots still open, but I have 3 other people who I am still waiting to hear back from. I run a full day Mon-Fri program and I'm open from 7:15-5:30. I charge $131.25/week, which works out to be $525.00 monthly. I currently have 3 4-year-olds, one 3-year-old and my 11-month-old. We have a very structured schedule, it is very much like a school setting. We even have table work time, where I work with individuals or small groups at my round table on various things such as writing their names, practicing numbers and letters, etc. Let me know if you have any questions.

By the way, to anyone who is interested...Yesterday was a little rough because naptime wasn't very successful, but we are getting the hang of it. Today everyone is on the same schedule, and 2 out of 3 are sleeping right now!! The other one is lying quietly on her mat like she should be! Yeah!! AND...potty training has been VERY successful. If I could just get him to TELL me when he needs to go potty instead of me asking him or making him try every few hours! We'll get it though!