by Danielle
Yesterday was a horrible day at garderie for Joseph, when we pulled into the lobby he did not want to get out of the stroller. He cried and said, “No school, Joseph go home with Mommy! Joseph no like school!” Somehow I nudged him into the center after loads of coaxing. I was supposed to leave him there for 30 minutes (we’re trying to work our way up to 4 hours!) and I only managed to step away for 5 minutes to go to the bathroom, and he was in total meltdown while I was away. The caregivers assured me it was completely normal behavior.
It’s additionally challenging because while I am trying deal with Joseph, I am wearing Rachel in a baby carrier which gets very tiring. Or she is in a portable carseat and I’m prying the other children off of her while I try to give Joseph my full attention. Fortunately Rachel is very easygoing and smiley through all of this commotion.
Today Joseph was fairly agreeable at first and even said “bonjour” to the caregivers as we arrived at the center. But he was emotionally fragile and I stuck around for 30 minutes before attempting to leave.
I had been using cookies as a bribe (is that wrong?), saying, “Joseph if you are a good boy and don’t cry, I’ll have a cookie for you when I come back.” As I tried to leave he cried very hard and said, “No mommy go!” I said, “But Joseph don’t you want a cookie? If you keep crying you can’t have that cookie!” and with great difficulty he’s stop crying and say tearfully, “Joseph want cookie!” Five seconds later he’d bawl again. Poor kid was trying to hard to keep it together, I felt terrible for him.
Ultimately I managed to slip away and when I returned an hour later, I was amazed that I did not hear him crying from the lobby. Audrey said he cried for a while, but then he played with clay, joined the singing circle, and read a book with another caregiver. He had even been smiling. Yay Joseph! Needless to say, he got the cookie.
And so it goes. Our adaptation period was supposed to end tomorrow, but it seems that we are going to keep this up for the rest of the week and see what happens. At least I think that is what we are doing, the ladies at the center don’t speak English (except Audrey who speaks a teeny bit, just enough to help us out when we are stuck). I’m sure the language issue is part of what makes the transition hard for Joseph. On the plus side, he is already learning some French words.
So far my regular routine is to take Joseph to garderie, then to a playground, home for lunch and quiet time (aka a nap, which he rarely takes), then a late afternoon bath, and dinner when Dan gets home around 6pm. The only wildcard is what I do for my precious 30 or 60 minutes while Joseph is at garderie. I often step around the corner to a grocery store or an open air market but sometimes the markets are extremely crowded in the mornings. As in, you can’t move down the aisles (remember, i have a stroller) and little old ladies are shoving you aside. Sometimes I will suffer through it to score some (huge!) artichokes, fruit, pate or fish.
Today I treated myself to coffee at the corner cafe. The regular waiter is extremely surly but today I got a very pleasant man from Senegal who was quite chatty. He is a fan of the US and told me how much he likes New York City and San Francisco, and that there are a lot of Americans in our neighborhood now. I read my French/English dictionary while Rachel napped.
The downside is that a cup of coffee is almost 4 euros. Did I mention that (part time) garderie costs 4 euros a WEEK? Oh the other downside is that I find it virtually impossible to get coffee the way I want it. I like a decaf, cafe au lait. I can’t get that to save my life. I’m brought either a black, decaf coffee, or what they call “cafe creme,” a cafe au lait but with caffeine. And maybe it’s just me, but French coffee seems at least 10 times stronger than at home. Now I understand why my mother complains about weak American coffee.
