It was wonderful. We instantly felt horrible for having left her in daycare for so long when we saw the difference in Natalie's behavior. Here's how they compared:
Today - she was in a talkative, happy, free-roaming crawly mood both when i dropped her off & when I picked her up. She drank 40z of milk and then wanted more. She napped for a total of 3.5 hours in 2 naps and she was waving & smiling goodbye to Lakeisha and her mom and squirming to get out of my arms as I was trying to take her home (she still wanted to play & explore more). She was happy & playful all evening at home, playing contentedly by herself while we ate dinner.
A day in daycare - when I dropped her off she was always very reserved, watched other kids carefully but didn't smile or crawl over to them. Wouldn't drink even a full ounce of milk all day, no matter how warm or cool or when or how they served it to her. She napped usually 30 to 45 minutes, sometimes up to an hour totaling 2 hours at the very most. When we picked her up at school, she was spaced out smiling a little when she saw us, then blank staring again until we got home. Once we got home, she would be very clingy and eat non-stop for two hours.
Anyway, I'm embarrassed to say we didn't take these cues to heart and should have paid closer attention to her behavior changes. Maybe we could have gotten her out of that environment a lot sooner. And who knows how her days went there to make her act like that?? It's kind of scary in retrospect.
