JCC Columbus - My Kid is the Non-Kosher Snack

Jack has been bitten 10 times in the last 6 months at the Columbs JCC's "Nationally Accredited Early Childhood Education Program." The director, Barbara Topolosky, thinks this is no big deal. Thank God the Infant/Toddler Coordinator, Nili, is the voice of reason.

I am still having a hard time understanding why, after the 10th bite, I had to go to the administration and say "this is unacceptable." Mrs. Toloposkly signs all of the incident reports - don't you think my kid's name coming up so often would ring a bell? Especially since I raised the warning flag in January? One would think. However, Mrs. T seems to think I am overreacting. Other parents, what do you think?

Nili got the person in charge of classroom observations in Jack's room the day after I talked to her about the last incident. It seems like Jack is spending a lot of time a) by the door and b) by himself, not as a part of the group. This makes my heart so very sad as a Mommy. Why isn't he interacting with the other kids? He seems to play fine with the C.M. bring their kids to play or we play at their houses. Add to this the door obsession and I am going to be freaking all weekend thinking what the hell is wrong with my kid?

I plan on calling the pediatrician on Monday, because the door thing has GOT to stop. A teacher at the JCC who is a friend of our mentioned that she thinks Jack might be getting bitten when he plays with the doors and the other kids try to tell him to stop.

We toured The Goddard School downtown on Thursday and it really does seem top-notch. However, now that we have the classroom observer involved and she s going to work both with Jack, the class in general and the teachers, should we just wait and see what develops? Should we put him in the Goddard School now? I really don;t know what is best. I want to avoid an upheaval and change in schedule, but I also want Jack SAFE.

You buy a $15 toaster and it comes with instructions in 15 languages. A kid, comes with a tiny hat and a "good luck with that." Christ, I wish I had some clue as to the best thing to do.

Fun While It Lasted

I've spent most of today having an existential crisis. How's that for a Wednesday?

It would seem to me that, after 90 days, I am not a good match for The Sitter Connection. Don't get me wrong - still a great group of people and ABSOLUTELY register and use their services. This is just not what I signed on for. We went from kind of a free-flowing "you're a floater" kind of schedule of 25 hours per week to having the phones forwarded to my house (my work phone in the basement) 4 days a week and doing a full-time job in 15 hours kind of situation quickly. Well, in 90 days, to be exact. I appreciate the fact that they are a growing company and needs shift and change, but this is a little more than I bargained for for $10 an hour, man.

So, my existential crisis is this: I am, fundamentally, at the very core of my being, NOT a quitter. I hate quitting things (except exercise regimens, I hate those) and I don't do it often and it makes me physically ill to quit anything that I think may be getting the better of me - as I think this job may be doing. Also - and this is BIG - I don't want to mess up my sitter situation. The Sitter Connection has been a God-send. Seriously - capital G - that is how good the service is. I don't want it to get all awkward and all of a sudden my sits aren't placed.

So, I am sitting here pondering today. I am not sire the owners' expectations of me are realistic and I am not sure I want to continue to "go with the flow" and continue the rapid-fire change. But I am REALLY sure that I hate quitting and REALLY, REALLY sure that I want to keep getting good sitters. Oy.

In other news, Jack has been bitten 10 times in the last 6 months at the JCC. I plan to post on this separately, so that parents searching for "Columbus JCC" can find the post on Google. Osi and I have an appointment at the Goddard School downtown tomorrow at 2. What a week - and it is only Wednesday.

Excited About the Weekend

Well, as excited as one with a sinus-induced migraine can be. Damn the Ohio weather all to hell!

The Cashmere Mafia and kiddies will be arriving in about 30 minutes (hm, should probably go round up the dust bunnies), for post-Valentine's Day play date. We haven't seen each other since Mandie's birthday extravaganza and, sadly, probably won't see each other til Feeb's birthday next month. Man, I love those gals, though.

Tonight we are going out with another Interfaith Couple. Yippe! Please note the capitalization. That is how excited I am to find another couple in our predicament. They are not yet married - not even engaged, but, man, I would like to play my part in getting them that way, just so we could celebrate Chrismukka together! We're going to temple services together then out to dinner. How very kosher (or non-, since we're reform, well, technically, I am still Catholic.). My friend Jenny found a t-shirt she said I should get it says "I'm Jew-ish". How true.

We're apparently going to the JCC to eat BBQ brisket and listen to jazz on Sunday. I have no idea. I don't ask questions when my husband takes the initiative to plan something. I just get the sitter, dude. I'll let you know how it goes.

Off to herd the dust bunnies!