Church Nursery

Filed Under Church, Firsts, Nine Months | 6 Comments

Okay, so normally I am very happy with our church nursery. Well, not that I’m NOT happy today, but there’s a story here. I work in the nursery every other Sunday morning, as I have for four years now. I also do paid childcare at church on Tuesday mornings and on Wednesday evenings. So I’m there a lot. I know how things work, or how they are supposed to work. Once in a while, things don’t go according to plan, but it’s usually not a big deal.

Today Bailey was in her little classroom and did surprisingly well when I dropped her off. She has been having her separation anxiety issues at home when I am not near her, but she seems to do better when we are somewhere else. She is much more independent away from home, most likely because there are new things to explore. Which is funny, because my friend Amy‘s little girl is the opposite. We were discussing that the other day. But anyway, I dropped her off and she seemed okay. I was working in another classroom during the first service but poked my head in at the end and she was still okay. I wondered if she would last through Sunday School because it would be her naptime, and last week she was fussy then. I kind of expected to be paged.

So I am sitting listening to announcements and my pager starts vibrating. These things really get your attention, but like I said I wasn’t surprised. I picked up my purse (so I could show ID) and walked to the nursery. As I passed the front desk I asked if she was having a hard time. They said no, that she had gotten hurt! What? My baby got hurt in her classroom?

When I got to the door of her classroom, she was sobbing and one of the ladies was carrying her around and trying to distract her with a book. She had a big cut spot on her forehead and it was already starting to bruise. Of course she wouldn’t let them put ice on it. Her nose was snotting all over her face and mixing in with the tears. My poor girl. What happened was that she fell somehow (Jan, my guess is that she was trying to pull up or cruise along the cabinets but I guess I never asked)… anyway she bumped her forehead on the ONE thing in the room that could have possibly hurt her. I have never questioned whether the classrooms were safe, but there is a small hinge on the edge of the cabinet and of course her head collided with like that half inch spot in the entire classroom that could have hurt her.

I ended up taking her to the nursing room and sitting with her a while, letting her eat and calm down. We went back to the desk and talked to Kelli, and I decided to keep her with me for a little while. She was over it, but I wasn’t. This was her first actual injury, I mean one that left a visible mark at least. And of course she has pictures scheduled for tomorrow morning. Time to break out the concealer. After walking around with her for a bit and then trying to sit with her in church, I gave up and took her back to the nursery after all for like the last fifteen minutes.

My mom picked her up afterwards and asked why she got hurt, if the teachers weren’t watching or if there were too many kids in there. I told her no, that it could have happened at home. Those things happen so fast. Even when you think the area is totally safe, the kids will find the one spot that can hurt them. It’s just bad luck and part of being a kid to have those bumps and bruises… but it did really make me sad. I almost cried, and I know Bailey forgot about it hours ago but here I am blogging about it. I’m really not mad at all or upset with the nursery. She’s a busy girl and pulling up and getting into everything, so I’m surprised it didn’t happen before now. But this also means she is getting bigger and becoming more of a kid and less of a baby.

Anyway, if you made it this far I am impressed. Sometimes it just helps for me to get my thoughts written out. You should see how many posts I have that never made it out of the draft stage.

This picture was taken in Bailey’s old nursery classroom just before Christmas.

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