Movin' On Up and Other Daycare Drama

Jack changed classes at daycare today. He is no longer in "Toddler 2," but as moved up to the big-kid world of Preschool. Supposedly, he has been ready for quite awhile, but they wanted to keep him together with kids his own age and then there was something about the older kids teaching him bad habits. The kids that were in the preschool room were a rather "rambunctious" lot, I guess.

The real trouble, though, apparently comes from the age group lower than Jack. Yes, my son has a nemesis. Jack truly does not like little Edwin (not his real name). This kid started early this spring and would be there screaming when Kate dropped Jack off. It really freaked out Jack and his drop-offs became more difficult as began clinging to Kate when she tried to leave. We at first felt sorry for the little Edwin, but then Jack started talking about him at dinner. "Who did you play with today?" we would ask.

He would rattle off his friends' names and then he would say, "But I did not play with Edwin. He is a bad friend."

"Why is he a bad friend?"

"He hits. And takes things."

Still, even if Jack did not like him, he still referred to him as a "friend," even if it was a bad one. We figured Jack would get over it, eventually, since little Edwin was just new.

Nope. A while back, Kate dropped off Jack and gave him a cereal bar for his breakfast. She was talking to one of the teachers when she heard Jack start screaming and crying. They looked over and there was our heartbroken little boy pointing at Edwin, who was chowing down on Jack's breakfast. (One does not mess with Jack's Trader Joe's This Strawberry Walked Into a Bar.) Apparently, this was a regular occurrence and the teacher informed Kate that they were "working on it."

Kate started telling Jack that he had to stand up for himself and not let Edwin take his food. Now when Kate gives Jack his breakfast at daycare, he is on guard. He puts his hands over it, gets a little shifty-eyed, and yells at Edwin to stay away from his breakfast if he comes near. Jack will (reluctantly) share his toys. But don't even think about swiping his Pop Tart.

On the other end of the spectrum, Jack is in love with one of the teachers at daycare. I think she is not even in his room but is in Amelie's. Jack is always talking about her and told Kate one day how pretty she is. Kate told Miss C--- the other day how much Jack likes her. She laughed, and said "Yeah. Well, he did invite me over to your house for dinner this Sunday."