Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Transition to Toddlers

This week was Elijah's first week in the toddler classroom.  It's been.... rough.  Harder than I thought it would be.  Elijah has always been the easiest child, taking any changes in stride.  And he's done remarkably well with this change.  But what I didn't realize is that this change would be hard on me.  I built such a close relationship with Elijah's infant teachers.  Especially Miss Erika.  She was there the very first day I dropped Elijah off.  She gave me a big hug because I couldn't stop crying and told me that she cried just a few weeks before when she dropped her daughter off at high school for the first time.  She has seen Elijah grow from a tiny 7 week old newborn, to a 14 month old toddler.  And I truly feel like we've been partners through the whole experience.  Every time I feel unsure about something, I ask his teachers.  They have great ideas, but also let me know that every child is different and ultimately it's up to us to decide what to do.  They have found such a great balance between loving Elijah like he's their own, and making me feel like I'm still the most important person in his life.

So when we left that classroom, I was very sad to be leaving those relationships.  In his new classroom everything is chaotic and loud and confusing and different.  I don't know any of his teachers, I don't know where everything is, I don't know the other kids in his class, I don't know their routine.  When I drop him off and pick him up there's so much going on that I don't have a chance to talk to his teachers about what they did that day.  There isn't time for me to discuss Elijah's sudden ravenous appetite, or a new habit of taking big gulps of milk and then spitting it out.  There's random children's clothing in Elijah's basket, and his orange jacket is missing.  I have to provide a sippy cup every day, but I don't know if I'm supposed to wash it every night, or bring a new one the next day, or what.  There are different teachers there every time I pick him up or drop him off and I don't know any of them.

I know his head teacher- we met with her for over an hour before Elijah moved into her class.  She seems really great and everyone at the center (including Elijah's old teachers) said that we're lucky to have her.  She is almost finished with her degree in early childhood education and is also taking a special course through Bright Horizons to get her management certification.  What that tells me is that she's in this for the long haul.  She's been there since the center opened in May 2011, and I can be pretty sure she will stay for a while longer.  That makes me very happy.  I really truly believe that I will get to know her, and Elijah's other teachers, and build relationships with them.  But for now it's really hard.

Elijah is doing really well though.  When I drop him off it's always rough.  He won't walk into the classroom voluntarily, and clings to me desperately the whole time I'm there.  I've been able to gently pry him off me and get him interested in something else enough for me to leave without him crying.  I'm so glad I haven't had to see him cry every morning.  The clinging is hard enough.  But his teacher is really great and she knows just what to do.  He has the biggest smile when he sees me in the afternoon.  There's great big windows so I can see him before I actually get into his classroom, and he's always playing and happy.  So I know he's doing well all day while I'm not there.

He is sleeping really well now too!  His naps are at least 2 hours every day, and he's sleeping a solid 11 hours every night.  I can tell he is so incredibly tired by the end of the day.  Which is great!  They do activities and go outside twice every single day.  They also do lunch "family style" which means Elijah sits at a table, with dishes, and silverware, and serves himself food from a common dish.  He also drinks milk from an open cup (!!).  They brush his teeth every day, and go for walks (not in a stroller!), and he naps on a cot!  Not in a crib!  This is one of the things I love about day care- they really push them towards independence.  If he was home with me all day, he would probably still be taking 3 naps a day, drinking milk from a bottle, and being rocked to sleep!

Yesterday we stopped in briefly to say hi to Elijah's infant teachers.  They were so happy to see him and gave him big hugs.  I could tell he felt so comfortable in his old classroom.  Every day he walks straight to his old classroom, and I have to remind him that we go to the big kids' room now.  They told me that it would get better.  That I would get to know his teachers, and become familiar with the routine.  It was very reassuring to hear that from them.

Besides all that craziness at Elijah's school, we are also in the middle of moving.  We have about 75% of the house packed up in boxes, and we have been showing our house to a few people every weekend who are interested in renting it.  We close on our new house this Friday, so we will start to move some boxes over and get some minor projects done.  The kitchen is our big project, and that will probably be done the second week of December.  I don't want to move in too far before that, because I can't handle living with an unusable kitchen for that long.  So our plan is to officially move on Dec 7.  Hopefully Elijah will be well settled into his new class by then, so it won't be too much change at once.  I am so incredibly excited.  I really feel like this house is fulfilling all of my dreams.  I'm going to have to come up with new ones once we're finally moved!

And next week we are flying to Phoenix for Thanksgiving.  I feel much more comfortable with it since we just flew there a month ago for Evan and Kristy's wedding.  The flight was stressful, but manageable.  I think we will take some things we learned last time, and hopefully it will go even better this time.  I know Elijah will be thrilled to see all his grandparents again.  It's so crazy that we're flying to Phoenix in the middle of all this moving, but it's just the way it worked out.  I'm trying to stay calm and take it one step at a time, and so far I'm succeeding!

Monday, November 4, 2013

Our new Home

Today, we bought a house.  It's a dream come true.  It's in the most incredible neighborhood.  And I just can't believe how fortunate we are.  Elijah will go to Kindergarten at the elementary school just up the street.  And we will spend this winter cozy in front of the fireplace.  And we will NOT spend this winter scraping snow and ice off our cars!!!  I am incredibly excited.  And so very overwhelmed by the amount of work we have to do in the next few weeks and months.  We close on November 22.  Less than 3 weeks away!  I guess I'll be packing tonight!

Friday, November 1, 2013

Halloween 2013

As promised, here are some Halloween pictures:

We decided to go trick-or-treating with our friend Terri and her daughter Carolyne in their neighborhood.  We are hoping to move near them, so we thought it would be a good way to check out the neighbors ;-)  When we got there, we put Elijah in his costume and I just about died.  It was waaaay cuter on him than on the hanger.  And he loved it too!  The hood didn't bother him at all.  He left it on all night and was nice and warm and cozy.  When Carolyne came downstairs in her costume, Elijah thought she looked hilaaaaarious.  (I don't think he realized what he looked like).  He also thought Daniel looked pretty funny in his costume.


Two toddlers in costume- I'm dying from the cuteness

We headed out at about 6pm.  We mostly stayed in their cul-de-sac, but went to a few houses of people Terri knows in her neighborhood as well.  It was a beautiful, perfect day.  Clear blue skies and cool, but not too cold.  I actually didn't even need a coat.  Elijah absolutely loved walking up the driveways and picking candy out of the bowl to put in his little bucket.  A few times he got a little confused and took candy out of his bucket to put back in the bowl of the friendly neighbor, but it's his first Halloween, right?  I'm so glad he started walking before Halloween because watching him march from house to house in his little costume and carrying his bucket of candy was just the cutest thing I've ever seen.  

I swear we didn't pose him like this.

Daniel was a safari guide

Once it got dark, it started to get cold so we wrapped things up.  Trick-or-treating was so much more fun than I even imagined.  I thought Elijah was still too young, but it was actually a fantastic activity for him.  He got to walk around the neighborhood freely, pick up items and put them in a container (always a hit) and play with his little friend Carolyne.  When we finished, we went back to Terri's house for some chicken noodle soup (which Elijah devoured) and then got home by about 8pm.  Just in time to realize we bought two giant (expensive) bags of candy and missed the majority of the trick-or-treaters.  Oops.  Maybe we can save it for next year?