Like S-- last week, M-- approached us sheepishly tonight when we picked up Munchkin at daycare. Out of the corner of my eye I registered that my girl was not wearing shoes, which was odd.
"I feel soooo bad," said M--, "We were all taking off our outside clothes and Munchkin was standing so close to me that when I shuffled my chair over as I turned around, I felt it come down on her foot ..."
M-- at this point looks really tortured, and hastens to add, "I didn't bring my whole weight down on it but she was really clingy so I held her for a long time and then when I put her down she just cried and cried and cried, so we've put an ice pack on it ..."
Ah, no shoes. Icepack. Gotcha. An incident report has been logged, just like last week.
Last week? Well, last week S-- called me at work: "Don't worry, everything's okay," she offered right after 'hello,' which is the standard procedure when daycare calls you at work, "It's just, I feel sooooo bad because I knocked Munchkin over and we think she might have hit her head a little."
Knocked her over?
"Well, she snuck up right behind me, really close, and I didn't notice her there, and when I turned around, I sort of, I'm sooooo sorry, tripped over her and we both fell down."
R-- later pulls me aside to tell me that she thinks S-- was hurt worse than Munchkin, who simply wanted to be held and consoled. Munchkin got a black eye, but S-- is still apologizing.
Tonight though, I'm grateful for these reports if not the incidents themselves. I'm grateful, particularly, for a couple of insights they grant.
First, I'm glad to know I'm not being hysterical or touchy when I describe Munchkin as fantastically clingy lately. When I say she spends a disproportionate amount of time wrapped around my leg, stepping on my feet, wedging herself in between me and the kitchen counter? Well, the stories from daycare--where she is literally underfoot--seem to bear this out. Keep your friends close, and keep your Mommy closer: that's Munchkin's watchword. So, second, I'm grateful that when I'm not around, there's people at daycare she cares enough about to put herself in the path of injury to be near them. And that these people will hold her and pat her booboos and give her icepacks and a special book. Frankly, they remind me that her clinginess is a gift, an expression of love, a toddler 'thing'.
But maybe until she loosens her bonds of proximity a little bit, we should all be more careful about changing direction, shifting our weight, reaching out our arms, or stopping abruptly. All these incident reports. It's a lot of paper. Hey--here's another thing to be grateful for! I've managed never to injure her when she's stuck to me like glue!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Incident Report
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5 comments:
That's the nice thing about cats...no incident reports or red tape required.
Hope M's little booboos are all better, though!
Well, I'm glad there is an upside to the incident reports!
It is nice to know that she is with people she cares about and who care about her, isn't it?
My Pumpkin clearly LOVES her day care teachers. So much so that the upcoming move to the next room (with its associated joy of getting to play on the BIG PLAYGROUND) is being choreographed like an election campaign....
Ya. Kids that age are clingy, but two incident reports in a week where the teacher injured my kid would have me reeling just a little. I think the teachers need to exercise a wee bit more caution.
Having been a daycare helper for a short while and having had to tell a few parents about an incident, I always feel bad for the teacher, who I know feels terrible and entirely uncomfortable about what happened and how the parent might react. I did once get one of those calls at work, though, when Pumpkinpie tripped on the edge of a sandbox and whacked her head on the concrete.
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