Quote Originally Posted by playfelt View Post
First of all I would hope you are putting her down in her playpen for a nap/rest when she first arrives as some of the behaviours could be because she is overwhelmed due to being tired - that his 3 hours of sleep she is missing out on and if anything is going to bed at the same time or later now that mom only has evenings with her.

Make use of a playpen or play yard for her right beside where you do circletime. Then she is in there to stand/sit and listen - can't touch anyone, can't wander off, has limited playthings so no tossing and disrupting just listening from a confined space. High chair or booster seat with tray on the floor can be used in the same way.

The agressiveness is almost like a defensive thing - instinctively fighting anything or anyone that threatens her and because of her lack of social experience with other kids - anyone in the vicinity is a threat. Keeping her near you either high chair or whatever would probably be a comfort to her than seen as punishment because all she knows is adult company. You will need to teach her how to relate to other children.

And yes a large percentage of them are this way. Just when you get this one settled in and finally coming around you will be ready to add another one year old to the mix.
Those are fantastic ideas. I really like the playpen/high-chair idea for whenever you have to get anything done (changing diapers, making food, even circle time, etc). She won't be isolated, but she *will* be contained. I've been really lucky - I've had five daycare kids come and go over the years and NONE of them were anything like that...they all adjusted really well - except for the one who had never been to a daycare before. He was also 12 months old, but he had older school-aged siblings. His issue was not aggression but rather accidentally playing way WAY too rough for preschoolers. Like, football tackling them into the wall every day - yikes!