Two weeks ago Ivy came home from Pre school with a tummy ache.

One of those terrible “I’ve eaten the wrong food” tummy aches that end up with her having days and days of foul smelling bowel movements that only a person with gluten and lactose issues could know.

It was awful - for her and for me.

Mostly for her.

Kindy was skipped the following week, partly because she had tests but mostly because she was just not up to it.

On a side note, we have only made it to preschool every other week because of lurgies that have been picked up the week before but that’s okay, I expected it, I guess.

On another side note, Noah won’t go without Ivy.

He did tell us once he would go if he could take Nelson the dog (our dog). Of course, that wasn’t an option, really.

So this week, as much as I hate any sort of confrontation, I went to the teacher and explained that Ivy was very sick after her session

and she balled me out for it. She told me it could not have been at preschool that she ate gluten, that the teachers were vigilant.

I wanted to ask her about playdough and how they made it, was it with gluten free flour, I wanted to explain that I was not blaming them in any way but that having a scraps bowl in the middle of their lunch table was, perhaps, not a good idea when there were kids who couldn’t have bread but might like the smell and mightsneak a taste of somebody else’s.

I wanted to but I didn’t.

I totally backed down and with my cowardly tail between my legs I left.

I just wanted them to be aware of what happened and be slightly more vigilant with Ivy.

This afternoon when I picked them up, I noticed Ivy was wet and I could smell something bad coming from her direction.

As soon as we got to the car she asked me to change her, that she had had an accident.

I asked her if she had told anyone and Noah professed to her telling one of the teachers.

In true Noah style.

(Very loudly) “Yes Mum she told T. Did you hear me Mum? I said  she told T”!

When I changed her, she was damp not ‘just gone’ wet but ‘has sat in it for a while’ damp. The urine smell was quite stale and she had new blisters because she had been in wet undies and wet pants (wet all the way down to her socks wet).

Now, I don’t know about you but for me that doesn’t seem acceptable.

This is a community based, DoCS approved preschool. It is supposed to be one of the best in our area.

I have to ask questions though, like;

did she actually say anything to the teacher? She gets quite upset with herself when she has an accident, so maybe she didn’t breathe a word.

But;

if I could smell it from a distance, how come the teacher did not?

If they knew she was wet, why didn’t they change her? I pack several changes of clothes in their bags, it’s not as though they were her only clothes for the day.

On the tail of the tummy ache problem, I’m not sure whether to say something. 

I want to jump up and down and tell them I am trusting that they will look after Ivy and Noah and they have dropped the ball two sessions in a row.

As a mum, I want to yell not good enough!

I know though that sometimes, accidents do happen and they get missed. There are three teachers for twenty kids and Ivy may have just slipped under the radar for toilet stops, this day. Preschool is hectic and full on almost all of the day.

In the face of their most recent denial, am I going to get any kind of  positive response?

Instead, I may be labelled as one of those overzealous, overprotective mothers, who then cannot approach any of the teachers because they all run away the minute you walk in the door.

I’m just not sure what to do about it.

Should I say something or should I let it go?

What would you do?