Daycare blues

I walked into daycare grinning last Friday because, for the first time, The Boy had said he wanted to come and play with one of his little classmates. "Ri-Ri play," The Boy said repeatedly as we pulled into parking lot. Just the night before, I had told friends how much I liked our daycare and how well The Boy was doing at it.

I should have known things were going too smoothly.

The director stopped me and a couple other parents in the hall as we walked in to tell us the church the daycare rents from had been sold and the new church wanted nothing to do with the business. We parents had a week to find other places for our children. The director expected to reopen, but couldn't tell us when or where.

Inside, I was thinking, "WTF! OMG! A FLIPPING WEEK! WHERE THE HELL AM I GOING TO FIND DAYCARE IN A WEEK?! WTF!" Outside, I nodded politely, commiserated and dropped The Boy off with a hug, a kiss and a smile as usual.

The search started immediately and included everything from temporary care in our home by one of the daycare ladies to Montessori schools. One school seemed great except for the fact that not a single child was crying; they were like Stepford kids. Michelle thinks I'm crazy to have let this lack of wails bother me, but it seemed unnatural. Another place, originally a top contender for price and convenience, was nixed because it has no outdoor playground. How can my kid not have a chance to play outside when we live in freaking FLORIDA? We finally decided on a church-run daycare that comes well-recommended -- and had both a working playground and crying babies on the day we toured.

Our new daycare seems really nice and I feel confident The Boy will do OK there. But I still think this transition is going to suck.

I know The Boy is only 19 months old. I know in a couple weeks or months, he won't know remember his old daycare. I know toddlers are resilient creatures. But oh! he's breaking my heart. Every morning this week, his last at the school he's been in since he was 12 weeks old, The Boy walks in saying, "Ri-Ri play, Ri-Ri play." He gets hugged by another one of his little playmates as soon as he gets in the room. Every night, he hugs his teachers and yells, "Bye-bye!" as he walks out the door.

We've mentioned that next week he's going to a new school to play with new friends. We'll talk more about it with him this weekend. But I know Monday's going to be rough, for all of us. Anyone have any ideas how to make things go a little easier?