The Lacher Family

Monday: Left Julia for one hour. She was hysterical as I left and only moderately calmed down while I was gone. I sat at Tim Horton’s, downed a donut and some coffee, and tried to not cry or vomit. Knowing that your daughter thinks you have abandoned her permanently is a horrible feeling. I arrived to find her in hysterics again as the teacher she had been with had to hand her off. I hid until she was somewhat calmed down (an excruciating 2 or 3 minutes) and then she and I went home.

Tuesday: Left Julia for about an hour and a half. Again, she was really upset when I left. Emily was on the playground at the time and requested to go over to help comfort Julia on her side of the playground. Emily and Julia’s lead teacher Ashley took her for a walk around the parking lot to calm down. I watched tennis online at Quizno’s and had lunch, only moderately more calm than the previous day. Had a great talk with the daycare director over the phone regarding Julia’s progress. When I arrived, she was calm and eating lunch. And amazingly, no stress rash in sight after these two days.

Wednesday: Left Julia at 10:00 and told them to call me when she was asleep so I could be there when she woke up from her first daycare nap. As I told Julia goodbye, she started crying but practically leapt out of my arms into Ashley’s. This calmed me a bit and I was able to head downtown for a smoothie (and a Hallmark card for Dan), go to the frame shop to (finally) get Julia’s cross stitch framed, and get my haircut. Ashley called at 12:36 and Julia was asleep. I arrived at 1:00 and she woke up around 1:30. She was calm upon waking and confused, then happy, to see me. After she fully woke, we went home. Ashley reported she had a great day and enjoyed playing with friends.

Thursday: Left Julia for about four hours. Again, she cried and reached for Ashley upon my leaving. Cried for 10-15 minutes, then had a very good day. Took a one hour nap and was just waking when Dan went in to get her. She was glued to him for the rest of the afternoon (a nice change). While she was at daycare, we had a fabulous date.

Friday: Left Julia for 5 hours. Clearly, she is comforted by Ashley. I am no longer feeling dread as I drop her off. In fact, I am able to go to Target, come home for lunch, watch some tennis, take a nap, and hang out with my friend Jennifer for an hour – all without feeling too anxious. When I arrive, Julia is happily walking about the room. She smiles and says hi when she sees me. Ashley reports that she had a great day. She was very talkative and laughing. She even allowed one of the other teachers to pick her up briefly. Unfortunately, she only had a 10 minute nap, as she woke up screaming and Ashley rocked with her for a while but was unable to get her back to sleep. I put her to bed early so hopefully she will get a good night’s sleep tonight.

All in all, she has come tremendously far in this one week. I think she is beginning to see that when I leave, I always come back. At home, with the exception of Monday, she doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of stress about it, nor does our attachment seem to have suffered at all. I am so thankful for this. Thank you all for your prayers this week. They obviously have made a huge difference. I am so proud of Julia and the resiliency she has showed this week. And it makes me just a bit less stressed about returning to work on Monday. That’s a good thing.