Post holiday syndrome (Daycare problems!)

Baby girl started to go to the daycare right after her first birthday because my maternity leave ended on the day she turned one. I had to go back to work, and we didn't really have other choice except daycare. It took us two full weeks to get used to life in the daycare. She was still breastfeeding (she still is), and she spent her whole first year of life only with me, more or less. It's not that my husband didn't get involved with the upbringing, but it was me whom she spent every single day with, when he was at work. She was extremely attached to me, still nursing many times a day and never was watched by anyone. After two weeks of a delicate adaptation plan (meaning she came and stayed for half an hour for the first day and then half an hour was added every day for the next days) she and I managed not to cry during our morning separation on the first day of week three. She attends daycare from 8am to around 4pm since, willingly and happily.

In July last year, we went to Greece for a summer holiday that was combined with attending the wedding of a dear friend. Before going to Greece, we spent a week for a short vacation in Rab island of Croatia. Because of these trips, baby girl didn't go to the daycare for almost a month, after having attended for only two months (she started May that year). Before going, I consulted with the daycare psychologist whether it was a wise decision, and whether he thought we would have problem adapting when she has to start again. He said she might need a day or two to adapt again, but it shouldn't be too hard since she'd been familiar with the place and the staff. So off we went to Rab island, then to Greece.

Baby girl and dad trying the water for the first time in Gefyra beach

If we make a list of favorite holidays of the baby girl, Greece definitely would be on top of her list. She really enjoyed this one. We rented a car in Athens as soon as we landed, and drove five hours south to Monemvasia in Laconia. We stayed in a little studio facing a pretty beach which was private-like, and pretty close to the famous Monemvasia island. I can't describe how much she enjoyed it, the room we stayed at, the rides in the car (she hated car-seat back home), the waves, the beach and the swims, so much swimming, the hikes, the olives, oh the olives! She fell in love with the black olives grown locally she could eat tons and tons of them.

We attended a beautiful wedding during the weekend (in which baby girl danced and danced up to 2am when we finally put her to sleep and continued the party -it was such a lovely baby-friendly wedding), then we drove back to Athens. She enjoyed Athens almost as much as she enjoyed southern Greece, I must say. Despite the fact that the beaches were not as nice, she kept up with our itinerary well enough. We ate lots and lots of souvlaki and gyros (although we ate lots of them in tavernas in Monemvasia, too), had so much delicious Greek yogurt, visited many sites, and just generally walked around a lot. If we paid for our apartment in Monemvasia, we actually got to sleep in our hotel in Athens for free. I exchanged lots of miles for that (from Miles and More program -I'll talk about this issue in some other post). It was quite great actually, we could see the acropolis from our hotel room balcony.

  
This trip happened during the Greek bailout referendum, which spiced up the entire experience especially for my husband (you know, he's the "Quest means business" kind of guy, so he talked a lot to the locals, went to the voting place, wrote some report and article for some local papers back home and stuff like that).

After such a great holiday, the day we needed to go back to work/daycare was hard. Especially for the baby girl to get used again to getting separated from us. There was crying and screaming for at least a week before she finally adjusted back to routine. A week of protesting, refusing to eat, to sleep, and dramatic screams when I come to pick her up in the afternoon. It wasn't as hard as the first time around, but it was still hard. Both for her and for me, and probably for her caregivers in the daycare.

Now in the winter when we went to Indonesia, she was absence from the daycare for almost a month. After the great and long holiday, we arrived in Zagreb on one Wednesday evening, and she had to start daycare again already on Friday because I was back at work then. This time around, she didn't take it too hard. There was crying and sad faces but they passed after three days.

Does this kind of thing become a reason to not going to vacation? Nah. Of course not. As a child getting older, he's also getting more aware of the situation, you can actually talk to him like an adult. I explain to mine that I'll be coming back to pick her up, that she'll have lots of fun with her friends and caregivers, and that the weekend will come soon and then she can stay home with us. And of course, that the time will pass quickly and we'll be on another trip soon.

Remember, once they get into (elementary) school, you won't be able to travel whenever you want. You're going to need to adapt to their holiday schedule. Take as much trips as you could now that your children are still in the daycare or kindergarten!