A New Routine

After Corinne was born, I reduced my hours at work so that I had Mondays off to spend with my her. She went to school on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday and then went to Grandma's on Friday. While we were in the process of buying our house, an opportunity came up at work for me to take on some additional responsibilities and return to work full-time. It would mean a regular Monday-Friday schedule and I would stay a bit later than I had previously been staying Tuesday-Friday. I wasn't excited about the prospect of giving up my one-on-one time with Corinne, but I am nothing if not prudent so Brett & I very carefully examined our budget and came to the conclusion that we would be better able to maintain our standard of living if I accepted this opportunity.

I went back to work full-time at the beginning of April and now C attends school Monday-Thursday and still spends her Fridays with Grandma Chris. She has adjusted well to the additional day, but she knows that I used to pick her up at a certain time and now I am about 45 minutes 'late.' Her teachers at school are at a loss for how to help her through that last stretch of time - she starts asking for 'mama' and 'home' and is generally unhappy. It breaks my heart and we're trying to think creatively about how to distract and sooth her. One of her teachers suggested that we bring in pictures of 'mama' and 'daddy' so that when she asks for us she can see us and be reminded that we'll be there soon. That idea completely backfired and she became completely hysterical any time she saw our pictures.

This week we're going to try music. Music is completely stimulating for Corinne and she can sing and dance to the same song endlessly. Some of her favorites at home are Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes, The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Patty Cake, and Ring Around the Rosey. She knows where all of her body parts are for HSK&T, we do hand motions for Itsy-Bitsy and Patty Cake, and she spins and falls down during the appropriate times when we sing RAtR. It's adorable.

We've also suggested that when they notice that she's starting to get anxious they can give C her blanket or a toy from home, something special that is just hers that she wouldn't have seen all day and might get excited about. We'll see how it goes. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has a great idea to help C with this transition. I know that with time she will adjust and become confident in our new schedule, but in the meantime I'm sad that I can't be everything for my little girl all the time.