A Tale of Two Kids

Norah loves school… Ben umm threw up in daycare… three times…
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Let me break this down for you…

Norah loves school.  She is making new friends, and the teacher is awesome.  I even embarrassed her in front of her new friends yesterday morning when we dropped her off, it was awesome!  She’s digging everything about her classes, loves picking her outfit before school, even waking up fairly easy  (she is not a morning person… at… all).  This is all really awesome news.  She started about a week earlier than Ben would start at his daycare.  Every time Norah is dropped off at school, Ben starts to cry and feel all sad.  I thought he was crying because he really wants to go to school… nope… he just really wants to be with his cooler, older sister. 

So now it’s Ben’s turn.  We drop Norah off, and then we go to Ben’s new daycare!  Yay… I thought… Ben knew something was up… something didn’t feel right, it’s different, it’s a change.  So let me give you a little background of Ben’s morning routine.  As I said, earlier, Norah is not at all a morning person, but because she is excited about school, she really is a lot easier to wake up.  Ben, never needs a wake up.  6:00am, every day, all the time, he is up and ready to go.  However, unlike Norah who is excited to pick out her clothes for school, Ben doesn’t even want to wear pants.  Normally, during the week, I just give up, and Sunday.. well you gotta wear pants to church right?  Sunday church, is like the only time this kid will keep his pants on.  Even during the week, when I take him to the church for work, he starts off with pants, and then suddenly, he is out of his pants. 

So, that background on Ben and Norah’s routine in the morning.  Now comes Ben’s turn to get ready for school.  Something’s different, and he knows it.  Because… he is wearing pants… hmmm…. Doesn’t seem like a Sunday…  And eh starts feeling upset in the car.  Then we arrive at his school, and he’s just building up… he’s at about a low 2 on the crying meter… mostly just whimpers, and that quivering lip.  Then we get to his new, awesome, room for daycare.  He went from a low 2… to a 100 on a scale to 1-10.  Screaming, crying, and throwing himself on the ground, then throwing up, three times, every time they changed his clothes, more throw up.  He couldn’t even wear his shoes, because they had vomit on them.  So Ben’s first day of school… had pants on (great!) and no shoes the entire day (sad).  Also, he didn’t have a lunch because I didn’t know we needed to prepare lunch for him because of this dang COVID-19!  That is one heck of a first day for Ben!  Shoeless, puking, hungry.

I am so stressed thinking about what he will do on Thursday.  I’ll probably need to pack more extra clothes, another pair of emergency shoes, and a lunch (I wonder if I can just get a subway sandwich for him). 

Here’s the thing, change is difficult, Ben knows that now, and for the most part, we at times, have felt like Ben before.  Suddenly, we find our lives changing, and our routine seems broken, it causes stress, and even sometimes makes us feel nauseated.  But we just try to find ways to be comfortable with change.  It is at first uncomfortable and stressful, but it’s going to happen time and time again.  The problem is as adults, we know how we can cope with change.  How can a 2 year old find a way to cope with change and find peace in a new place and a new routine?