Thing 1's Terrible, Awful Day

Friday morning I took the boys to daycare as usual. After I dropped them off, I went into work for a couple hours. I tend to take Fridays off to do stuff around the house or run errands while the boys are at daycare. It’s much easier that way. On this particular Friday, The Mr. only had to work a half day so we met up for lunch and then went shopping to take advantage of sales. At about 4pm we went to daycare to pick up the boys to find Thing 1 in time out. The Mr. went to find out from the teachers and Thing 1 what had happened as I collected all of Thing 1’s belongings. Come to find out, after they completed their potty time at school, Thing 1 gave one of his teachers a dirty look and then proceeded to poop in his pants. He also kept taking his shoes and socks off and refused to put them back on.

On the way home from daycare, I attempted to get out of Thing 1 what had happened that caused him to poop in his pants instead of asking to go back to the bathroom. Since I was speaking to a 3 year old, I didn’t get a response that made much sense – other than he didn’t like that particular teacher. After we got home, I spoke to him again and we practiced what to say to someone if they do something we do not like or if we are upset with somebody. We also discussed that under no circumstances is it ok to poop or pee in our pants. He seemed to understand and did the role playing rather well.

Later that night, after bedtime, Thing 1 kept getting out of bed saying he had to pee. He was up every hour until finally at 2:30am I put him in bed with us. We talked for a few minutes at which time he stated that he was scared and upset. I didn’t figure out what exactly was bothering him, but he did calm down and finally fell asleep.

I laid in bed thinking about the events of Friday afternoon. Then it dawned on me that Thing 1 was in time out one other time this week when I picked him up and, on both days, it was the same teacher that had put him in time out and it was on the days that she stayed late. Knowing Thing 1, it just didn’t sound like him to deliberately poop in his pants. Yes, he gets upset and angry when put in time out or to have an activity taken away from him when he is bad, but he doesn’t glare at us and then poop in his pants. He may yell and say some not very nice things, but nothing like that.

So, now, also knowing that this particular teacher has only been working at the daycare and in his class for about 2 weeks, I am a little concerned. It is possible that Thing 1 was being a pain in the butt and deliberately pooped in his pants on Friday. It is also very possible that earlier in the week that he was not listening to his teachers and wrestling with another kid in his class that put him in time out. There just seems to be something about this whole thing that doesn’t add up (which may be because I am getting my story from a 3 year old). I spoke to The Mr. this morning about my feelings and stated that I may do some unannounced visits at the daycare this coming week to observed Thing 1’s behavior and how the teachers respond. I kept asking if I was overreacting and The Mr. said that if it bothered me, I should check it out. So, I will probably be taking my lunch at weird times this week so I can pop in at daycare to put my mind at ease.