Apparently, Hell is also for Nannies

Kinda reminds me of that snappy little Pat Benatar ditty. Today was Gillian's first day with the Nanny over at her buddy Francie's. It was not good for anyone involved. Unbeknownst to me or to Sean, Gillian's separation anxiety is alive and well...her happy little attitude fooled us into thinking the transition to the world of childcare would be a cinch, especially with her good buddy Francie being there to play with, at Francie's house where G has been many times.

Allegedly, the day went like this:

1200: G gets dropped off after her morning nap and lunch and diaper change. We decided to do a half day to "wade in slowly" (ha!). Sean leaves.
1205: Gillian starts crying
1205-1434: Gillian cries and cries and cries and cries and cries. Then she cries.
1435: Gillian passes out from sheer exhaustion, having cried for 2.5 HOURS nonstop
1535: Gillian wakes up and realizes she's not at home, sees the strange (and exceedingly kind) lady, remembers this is not all just a bad dream, and starts crying again.
1536-1650: See 1205-1434;
1700: Mama arrives to pick Gillian up, who is still doing the hyperventilaty-shaky-sigh-that-smacks-of-a-serious-crying-episode. Seeing mama, Gillian is suddenly happy, kicking legs and waving arms, smiling at everyone, and waving at Francie and the cat.

Well, not exactly like this, because somehow she ate two bottles in there (there was at least a 15 minute reprieve from screaming and crying between these two meals), but the poor Nanny basically had to carry Gillian all day because "if [she] put her down, she would scream" (instead of the crying that never ended, obviously so much better). Gillian was also so upset that she acted out, which I have NEVER seen her do with us or other children-pulling Francie's hair and kicking her when she tried to come over to play.

On top of it all, Gillian's sad plight made Francie cry. In stereo. I can imagine that would be a lot like hell. Nanny is a dear, dear person. I couldn't stop apologizing for not seeing this coming, but I didn't see this coming!

So, we have to work on getting G use to staying with other people besides Sean and I, and somewhere besides our own house. There will be an abridged day on Friday that includes a few Papa pop-ins/visits while G gets use to the Nanny, and a special visit of the Nanny to our place on Sunday for a few hours to play with Gillian. Hopefully, by Monday, it will be more like purgatory than hell. We'll work our way to a Paradise of Happy Babies from there, one [baby] step at a time.