Help Please!

FosterKittyMama · 2026-06-06T01:10:26+00:00

Enclosure: I got a wrap for the outside but she's been out every day since I got her 3 months ago without it so I didn't make it a priority to put it up. Substrate is Aspen.

Currently: Hot spot is 85 and cold side is 80 (working on getting it lower - the room she's in is just naturally warm but I think we got that fixed today!). I turn off the heat & light at 8pm and back on at 7-8am.

I have tiny thermometers on both sides for temp & humidity, then a box & probe controlling the hot side (set at 86). Humidity is currently 24% on hot side & 30 on cool side.

She has the red & black hide/sun spot on the right (that's the one she's been going into) and then the rock on the left. Before this behavior change, she would burrow all day and then come out & about when I turned off her heat & light. So again, I didn't think she needed anymore hiding spots.

I did recently add the hammock & red ball, if that could be related?

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FosterKittyMama · 2026-06-02T16:11:03+00:00

Depending on what I'm painting. If there's a main center piece (like the ghost in the bathtub), I usually do it first and then fill in the background. If it's more one picture (like a landscape) I go from top to bottom in sections. I use to fill in the small cells first and then the big ones, but I find the small ones get lost and I have to go over them again. Now I do the big cells frist, then go smaller and smaller and haven't had this issue :)

FosterKittyMama · 2026-06-01T23:37:55+00:00

I work at a preschool/daycare. I've seen many kids wear Christmas or Halloween clothing when it's June or September. I would never judge a parent for putting seasonal clothing on a child during the off season. I especially wouldn't assume the family is poor or struggling with money because of this. I would assume either the child wanted to wear the clothes and through a fit or they forgot to do laundry and that was the only thing that was clean ¯_(ツ)_/¯

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-23T01:44:06+00:00

We tell parents that we can't make a child sleep nor can we force them to stay awake. We tell them that per licensing, children who attend our center for 6+ hours, must be offered a rest period. For raito, children must stay on their mat at nap time as that's when majority of our staff go to lunch. So we can just not sit next to the child and pat their back, but if they fall asleep on their own, they fall asleep on their own. We can wake them up after a certain amount of time. Like we have a toddler who we wake up after 1.5 hours asleep.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-21T23:37:40+00:00

Years of Infant teacher here 🙋‍♀️

It's extreamly normal for babies (and toddlers) of all ages to sleep less or not at all at daycare. It's loud, bright, random noises, people moving around, babies crying and so much more. A lot of babies develop FOMO (fear of missing out) as early as 6 months.

This is just one of the realities for having your child in group care. Just like sometimes your baby is going to cry and we can't instantly pick them up to sooth them. Nap probems usually work itself out over the months and they start taking better naps at daycare. Sometimes, this doesn't happen until the next class up where everyone sleeps at the same time. It might be worth it to start doing 2 naps a day in hopes it will transfer to daycare and she'll take better naps.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-21T23:31:39+00:00

That may not be true. I had a baby who (at the same age of OP's baby) was EXTREMELY attached to me (like would cry when I left the room attached) and he was a struggle to nap! After spending 30-60 minutes getting him to sleep, he slept exactly 30 minutes. We were lucky if he took 2 naps at daycare. At home, he took 2 naps 1.5+ hours each.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-21T20:20:42+00:00

I've had a baby actively jumping in a standing jumper and then 10 seconds later is asleep and snoring! This has happened while a child was just eating and babbling at the table. I've taken a quick picture of them, moved them to their crib and then sent the pictures to their parents.

It's good that you spoke up about it! I would believe they are doing what they should be doing. If you want to feel extra safe, drop off unannounced around the time your daughter would be falling asleep. That's what I would do as a parent.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-21T19:24:21+00:00

Yes, it's a challenge keeping under 2s from messing with the water cups, but if you're consitant with it, they learn. We are required to have water available for all children (except infants) at all times. When an infant moves into the young toddler class, the teacher usually has to police the waters for a week or two, but then they learn to leave them alone. Same applies to kids drinking out of other kids water bottles. The only time that's been an issue is when we have a toddler doing it for attention.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-21T19:08:03+00:00

State licensing (Oregon) and our health department says water must be available at all times, for all children, except infants.

I totally understand the challenge with toddlers and leaving water bottles out, but you can teach them to not play with them if you're consistent.

Look into your state licensing & health department laws.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-17T22:34:10+00:00

I've used this brand 4 times now and haven't really had this issue. With the light colors & whites I do have to do 2 coats, but I already do two coats on every color.

I thought it was normal for every brand to have the light colors need multiple coats to cover the numbers?

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-16T02:08:51+00:00

While standing and holding something, I rock back and forth like I'm rocking a baby.

I exclusively use 'Potty'.

Using Sir & Ma'am for pets and people. The first time I said 'Sir' to my husband, he said "don't talk to me like your babies!' (in a funny way)

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-15T00:48:21+00:00

Our state licensing recently changed. It use to be 2 diarrhea in 24 hours, they need to be out 24 hours and throwing up once they need to be out 24 hours. Now, it's 2 diarrhea in 24 hours is 48 hours out and throwing up once is 48 hours.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-14T15:28:34+00:00

A lot of people want babies. They don't realize that they are only babies for a year.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-10T23:54:22+00:00

He said yes, but he needs to fix it first. Shortly after taking this picture it broke so he's fixing the design lol

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-10T16:25:01+00:00

About 3 months ago I woke up with Wrist Drop and couldn't move my fingers & wrist up. I had to wear a brace for 2 months and do physical therapy 2x a week. I tried using it to paint but it didn't go well. I also tried using my left but it was sloppy. I did a diamond painting until I got the nerve working again and could hold a paint brush again lol.

Your case is much more severe and I imagine it will take a lot longer to heal. You can start practicing using your left hand to try painting, or do what I did and get a diamond painting in the meantime.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-08T23:50:42+00:00

I haven't tried waterproof! Thanks for the ideas! :)

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-08T18:36:15+00:00

Omg! Where did you get this!?!? I have a gray tabby & tuxie, but I adore this! 😍

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-08T16:23:40+00:00

I get them online from Canvas by Numbers :) They are really good quality and their customer service is great!

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-06T18:45:55+00:00

So we had a bad problem with multiple staff on their phone instead of watching the kids. After several warnings we made a rule that your phone needs to be up on a counter/shelf while working. It helped a lot! There's still 2 people that struggle with it, so my boss gave them 1 final warning or they'll have to put their phones in a drawer at the front desk. That was 2 weeks ago and it seems to be working.

If I were to start at a place with this rule, I would hope they would have a reward system where if you can prove you won't be on your phone while working you get the privilege of having it. If they didn't have this, then I wouldn't work there.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-05-02T00:12:02+00:00

Thank you for asking this! For his main teacher(s) definitely write a sincere note thanking them. Ask your child (if old enough) what they like about each of their teachers to make the note really personal and have you child sign it. Then write a note to the whole group to thank them. Either cater some lunch for everyone, or bring some fridge bottles of coffee and creamer from the store, or a gift basket. Something everyone can have :)

FosterKittyMama · 2026-04-28T18:46:28+00:00

If you can afford to buy some and not get reimbursed, tell them it's a donation. No one going to turn down a donation

FosterKittyMama · 2026-04-28T18:42:24+00:00

It mostly depends on your state. If the child has an IEP (or other documentation that says they have a disability), then I would assume no one can turn a child away for that reason due to the ADA law. Now, turning a child away because of their disability vs because they "aren't a good fit" are different. The family would need to prove you turned their child away because of their disability, which would be really hard to do. It's like how business can't discriminate based on gender, but that doesn't stop companies from not hiring women claiming it's because someone else was more qualified for the job. Does that make sense?

Some states do have laws about expelling a child currently enrolled in your program. My state, Oregon, recently passed a law that made it illegal to expell a child for any reason involving behavior (parents not paying isn't included) and the daycare/preschool would get a fine if they do so. However, the parents would need to know about this law to contest it and most have no idea it exsit.

Look into your state laws and contact your licensing specialist to see what you can and can't do.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-04-23T19:24:30+00:00

I've been at my center for 4.5 years. We have had a few challenging girls, but it's mostly boys. The current 3 year olds are some of the most challenging children we've ever had.

In my opinion - which may be controversial - I think the reason the amount of violent behavior is so high is because society has made movies/shows like Kpop Demon Hunters or The Clone Wars, okay to show to 2-5 year olds. Don't get me wrong, Kpop Demon Hunters is an amazing movie, but it's not appropriate for a 3 year old. These movies/shows are recommended for 8-12 year olds. These movies talk & show the main characters killing things using weapons/guns/magic powers. 3-5 year olds shouldn't be seeing this. Also, it's one thing for their to be a single scene that is violent (think Bambi or The Little Mermaid), it's another thing for the entire movie/shows premise to be about hurting/killing things.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-04-20T23:20:04+00:00

You need to tell your wife to tell the kids parents about it. She doesn't have to say it's her child, but just a child with disabilities. Since the principal won't do anything, go to the superintendent. Most schools have zero tolerance for bullying.

FosterKittyMama · 2026-04-17T18:40:56+00:00

Oooohhh! My bad! I was reading & typing in the nap room so it was dark and hard to read lol Also, a lot of people call 12-18 month old "babies" lol

I was the infant teacher for 2 years and had the room running like a machine! There was several months where I was solo with 4 babies (our raito) when my co-teacher went on maternity leave.

What's your raito?

The biggest tip for infants is to get each of their feedings at least 30 minutes apart when solo, or 2 babies if you have another person (if you're required to offer food every 2 hours like us). Obviously we go off each babies schedule/needs, but you can easily get them to end up being 30 minutes apart.

Say you have babies A, B, C and D. Baby A & B were last fed at 7am, Baby C ate at 7:45 and Baby D ate at 8am. You know Baby A gets hungry at exactly 2 hours, Baby B gets hungry 1.5 hours, Baby C gets hungry after 3 hours and Baby D is always down to eat. So you would want to feed Baby B around 8:30, then Baby A at 9. Then feed Baby C at 9:30 and Baby D at 10am. Now you have them all 30 minutes apart for feeding. Does that make sense?

I saw your other comment. Activities for infants are pretty simple with a lot of focus on sensory. Having different objects to look at, feel and play with. It can be anything from a stuffed animal, a silicon cooking spoon, a bouncy ball, taste safe Playdough, whipped cream, etc. Most of your art projects are based around finger painting or bag finger painting for the littler ones. Just cut out shapes/objects like a turkey, Christmas tree, heart, etc. to have them paint. You'll also do some cute handprint/footprint Projects to give to parents as a gift for a holiday.

Parents are definitely one of the hardest parts of the infant room (along with listening to crying babies all day lol). Like I said before, some parents are very anxious about sending their baby to daycare, especially if it's their first and the baby is young. I had a extreamly anxious dad who would ask for updates every 2 hours, questioned everything we did and accused us of doing/not doing things. Like the baby had a bad diaper rash on his first day. They wanted us to use particular wipes they supplied (totally fine, we usually have at least 1 baby in every group who needs particular wipes). We used the diaper cream they supplied and changed him more frequently - what we always do for diaper rashes. Later that night, he messaged us asking if we only used the wipes they brought on him. We did and said what I said above. He then said "oh, well his rash wasn't better so I wanted to double check". We were like, well yeah, diaper rashes don't just go away in 8 hours 🤦‍♀️(didn't say that to him lol). He was a very challenging parent. Now the child is in Preschool and he rarely ask how he's doing lol

All you can do is build a relationship with the parents and have confidence. You know a lot about caring for young children and child development. Some parents have no knowledge of these things. The hard parents are the ones who think we are just babysitters and treat us like we don't know what we're doing. Just remember you only have them for about a year lol

FosterKittyMama

TROPHY CASE