Tricks of the Trade

I love the daycare Babykins is going to.  The facility is new and clean, there are fun activities and crafts everyday, and most importantly, the women who run the Wobbler Room (where the 12-18 monthers stay) are fabulous.

Unfortunately, Babykins isn't quite as thrilled.  We're on day 8 of her attending without me, and she still cries and reaches out her arms to me as I leave (go ahead, let that tear out - it's a very sad sight).  The teachers tell me she's crying less each day, but for some reason, she has started on a hunger strike and refuses to eat during the 4 hours she's there.

To combat this hunger strike, the blessedly patient teachers have resorted to some fabulous tricks.  It started with the Pacifier Bait and Switch.  First they pop out Babykins' pacifier, and when my little one opens her mouth to get it back, they quickly insert a spoonful of yogurt.  As soon as it's swallowed, they reinsert the pacifier before Babykins begins to cry.  This method is long and messy (Babykins usually comes home with her hair plastered to her head with yogurt), but highly effective.

I was impressed with this tactic, but they weren't done, yet.  For solid foods, these saintly women have developed the Drive-By Feeding.  They wait until Babykins is sitting quietly in the high chair, focused on what's happening around her, then they casually walk by and drop food on her tray in the hopes that she'll eat it if she doesn't think it came from them.  This doesn't have quite the same success rate as the bate and switch, but it does drastically reduce the amount of food that goes flying across the room.

Finally, in an effort to get Babykins to drink something, Teacherkins pulled out all of the stops yesterday with the Stealthy Straw maneuver.  Over the weekend, Babykins learned how to drink from a straw.  I was hoping that if I sent her drink in with a straw this week, she'd drink it down just for the pleasure of practicing her new skill.  I was wrong.  After Babykins refused her drink multiple times, Teacherkins tried putting the straw and the pacifier in Babykins' mouth at the same time, figuring that in the course of sucking on the pacifier, Babykins would end up swallowing some juice, too.  Unfortunately, Babykins quickly figured out this trick and spit out the straw, but I was still very impressed with the concept.

If there's anything I've learned this week, it's that you should never go head-to-head with a daycare teacher in any game involving strategic maneuvering.