Bradyn HATES Pre-school

Did I tell you Bradyn hated pre-school? I didn't? I know I told facebook (you can friend me here). Well, he HATED pre-school. The first day he was all jazzed about going and didn't cry when I left him and I thought "This is fabulous, I'm such a great mom, I did my research and selected the best possible pre-school (the one that really cost's more than we can afford) and my well adjusted son feels so loved and safe that he is independent and happy to go to school. I rock!" When I picked him up he was a little whimpery but not too bad. In the name of spring time his class planted a garden and a little girl had stepped on his plant. The plant that we had painstakingly picked out at the nursery the day before. The plant that he LOVED. So I figured the pathetic crying was all about the plant. The next day he whined a bit when I dropped him off but I thought no big, all kids whine a bit about going to school. But when I picked him up he stumbled to me like a victim of a tragedy and when he got to me he sobbed and sobbed in my arms. Sobbed so hard that he couldn't tell me what was wrong. I took him home and realized that he felt a little clammy, took his temp and he had a fever. "Well of course he is crying he is sick" is what I thought, I never thought "oh lord he is sick and he hated pre-school to the core of his little 3 year old being". He ended up being for reals and actually sick. We stayed home Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and all weekend.

On Monday he started with the begging "Mommy, please no go to work. Stay home mommy, no go pre-school." This continued all week, as we drove he would give me options of other places we could go instead "grandpa's, memi's, the zoo, sea world, Dallas". On Tuesday when I went to pick him up the teacher told me they had been trying to call me because he had cried ALL DAY LONG, turns out they couldn't get through because they had my area code wrong. (are you effing kidding me?) On Wednesday I called no less than 6 times to check on him and every time they said he was crying. At nap time they let him come to the phone so that I could tell him everything was okay and he couldn't even talk to me, I could just hear his jagged breathing and his sobs. I told him how much I loved him and that I would be there to pick him up soon and he said "can you find me mommy". (That's when I thought EEEEEEEKKKK I am a HORRIBLE mommy! My son is so tramatized that he thinks that I have lost him and that he is stuck at pre-school forever! Good mommy's children never think that!) That night he woke up in the middle of the night crying saying that he just wanted to go home. On Thursday his teacher told me he drew a picture and spent the day carrying it around crying and telling people that it was his mommy.... But the final straw, the final straw came on Friday when I picked him up and asked him if he had a good day, his answer was "I'm fine now mommy. I just cried ALL day". That was it for me. I know that it takes time and I know that a lot of kids cry for a week or two when they first start at daycare or school but I was done. I couldn't focus on work, I couldn't sleep, and I couldn't do anything knowing that he was miserable. A good friend told me that her son attended a great at home daycare with a pre-school curriculum very close to my house. I called the lady, we met her on Saturday and on Monday Bradyn went to her house instead of pre-school. We are 3 days in and he is a different kid. He wakes up happy, tells me how much he loves her and doesn't cry when I drop him off or pick him up! I am so glad that we were able to find another option that works for him so quickly. (so happy that I'm not going to dwell on the fact that now we have to pay for the new daycare AND the old pre-school that we couldn't really even afford to begin with for 30 more days. Yep, you read that right 30 DAYS thats how much notice I was required to give. CRAZYNESS!)

I am worried about what we are going to do when he is 5 and I have to send him to school. What if he still doesn't adapt well? Have you dealt with this? What did you do?