I know a lot of mommas read this, so any feedback would be appreciated. I'm sure many will think I'm overreacting, but please keep in mind this is my first and only child (at the moment).
For the past (almost) 2 years little G has been home with me. He does not go to daycare. The only babysitters we have are family (we are so lucky that they are all within 5 minutes). I openly admit that I am a paranoid mother. I have watched too many news and Oprah specials to even consider having a stranger babysit my child.
Today was a big day for me. I decided I would take G to the little drop-in daycare at our YMCA while I worked out (aka did my pregnancy waddle on the treadmill). I see moms do it all the time. The kids seem to have fun. What could be the worst that could happen?
So we get all ready, head to the gym. I walk him to the little daycare down the hall and sign him in. I'm a little disappointed that signing in involves me simply stating our names and where in the building I'll be. No showing I.D. or anything. To pick him up all I do is walk up to the door and tell them the name of the kid I'm getting and initial next to it. I feel like anyone could just walk up, look at the sign in sheet, and say a name. Therefore, I position myself on a treadmill right at the window so I can see every kid that leaves the building. You know, just in case someone tries to swipe him.
I peek in on him after 20 minutes, fearful he will not be handling it well since he's with a bunch of strange kids and adults. He is sitting playing by himself, all seems well. I go back to working out for another 20 minutes. When I go to get him he is standing at the plexiglass window(before he even sees me) saying 'Mama, mama, mama, all done, all done' and starting to cry. My heart is breaking. His chubby little hands pressed on the glass looking frantically around was the saddest thing I've seen in a while.
I 'sign him out' amidst a stream of chaos at the daycare door (kids running in and out, parents yelling, etc.), and head to the car. I lay him down in the backseat to check his diaper when I notice a big red mark on his arm. I look at it....
It's a bite mark. Some stinky little brat bit my child. Not only that, but no one told me. I picked up G and headed back into the Y to ask what the heck. The worst part was that when we approached the door for the daycare G grabbed onto me for dear life and said "All done all done!". Poor kid seemed a bit traumatized. Upon further inspection with the 3 employees that were 'watching him' he also had bite marks all over his finger. I did a good job of keeping myself together. The look on my face and tone of my voice was frightening I'm sure, somewhere between trying not to scream and trying not to cry.
I know stuff like this happens, but I think I was so upset because they had no idea what happened. The best they could tell me was, "We don't know, we didn't hear him cry...sorry". I imagine stuff like this happens at daycare frequently. I expect someone who is watching my kid to be a little observant. The bite just about broke the skin (definitely will leave a mark for a few days and it's already bruised), so I'm going to go with G probably cried or made some sort of noise indicated distress when it happened.
I was so upset when I left and got in the car. I called the husband on the verge of hysterical crying(pregnancy hormones don't help the cause). My first time I try, and this is what I get. Seriously not doing anything to help me be less overbearing. I know he thought I was overreacting about how bad the mark was, so he asked me to meet him at a Wendy's near his work (he was out to lunch, so fancy!) to see for himself. He asked me for the phone number for the Y, and left a message for the director of the babysitting stuff. Nothing mean, just letting her know what happened and that we were disappointed with our first experience.
Now, I am perfectly aware G could have done something to provoke a bite. Maybe he took a toy, or tried to play 'tackle' like he does with Daddy. Who knows. Honestly, I feel like the people watching my kid should know. If he did do something, let me know so I can talk to him (not like talking to a 2 year old well after the fact accomplishes a whole lot). My instincts doubt he did anything seeing as how he is shy when in a new place with new people.
We are going to try again on Friday when husband as off. It was hopefully just some freak thing and won't happen again. I really enjoyed having the little bit of time to myself, and I do need to get comfortable with the idea of someone else caring for him (aka preschool in a little over a year). But I just don't have the strength to send him in there again by myself.
