A Week of Firsts!

Tate moved up into the preschool class this past Monday!!  With much trepidation and anxiety on my part I will say.  

All summer long I was anticipating him going to another teacher's class, as I had been told at the beginning of the summer.  He along with his 3 best buds were supposed to be moving to Ms. R's class. I see her everyday when I pick Tate up and he's talked about her several times.  She's always so sweet and talkative with me, showing me all the work her kids were doing in her class.  I was excited for Tate to be in her class.

Well that was not to be.  The classes were re-arranged and Tate was moved into Ms. J's class, though along with his best buds which of course included BFF Leo.  I rarely, rarely see Ms. J.  She arrives at 8 and leaves at 4:30.  So feasibly I would get no contact with her during the week.   Once Tate moved out of the infant room there were no longer day sheets sent home with the kids to tell the parents how their day went, how they ate, how they slept etc.  But when he was in the 2 rooms before this past year, his teachers always texted me each day before they left those things.  And if need be we would chat on the phone.  And his teacher in his third classroom, Ms. M, was usually there in the mornings at drop-off, so I could chat with her in the mornings, though I did have her text me how he slept the day of.  Ms. Laura, his immediate past teacher, was there at drop-off and pick-up.  She is an amazing woman;  her life's mission is these children.  She's so loving and caring and kind.  She's the first person there and the last to leave at night.  Tate and I were so blessed to have her in his life this past year.

And now we move on to a new class.  I expressed my concern about not seeing Ms. J at all during the week.  And on the Fridays when I brought  Tate in late to Ms. Laura's class I would frequently see her with her kids (the two teachers share a huge room) she rarely looked up or acknowledged me unlike everyone else who always took time to say hi.  I took her behavior to be standoffish and now I realize she's a bit shy.  

However, before I realized this I was upset.  I enjoy having feedback on Tate's day.  10 hours away from me.  That's an eternity.  I miss his smiles, his laughs, his giggles, his naps, his lunches, his snacks, his playing, his friendships, his whole life for 40 hours a week.  I want to hear how he's doing each day.  Did he do something funny?  Did he have a good time?  Was he in time out?  Did he miss me?  I expressed my concern with our new director (ahhhh!  the reason for the changes!)  They have implemented a folder with day sheets for the teachers to simply mark quickly the basics...how naptime went, how eating went, how behavior was etc.  So every afternoon at pickup I get a brief glimpse of how his day went.  I also made a point to email Ms. J to just go over Tate's food allergies with her and how to do his medications.  She was so sweet and sent me home a note giving me her home and cell phone numbers as we tried to connect during lunch time, but my busy schedule made it impossible initially.  We did finally connect over the phone, and it was a great conversation.  This was when I picked up on her sweet shyness.  And I told her I was not going to be bothering her at home after hours!  She told me it was fine, that she understood how busy I was and that since she was single she had time.  But I'm not going to do it.  Just because a person is single and/or childless does not mean their time is for everyone else.  I've always hated when people assumed that single people have no other  responsibilities in life.  They do.  And they are just as important as raising children, or working or what have you.  

But I digress!

I was very touched by her offer.  We ended up seeing each other in person the first day Tate was in her class fulltime on August 27.  He has done really really well.  He's not napping so great; takes him about 45-60 minutes to fall asleep, so he only sleeps about an hour.  But as he's trying to give up the nap I'm not surprised.  He did spend the week prior to the move in her class room a few hours each day, so he was prepared and ready for the move.  In addition, he's able to see his beloved Ms. Laura on the other side of the room, so I'm sure that helps.

So, I'm actually quite pleased with the move.  It helps that some other parents have complained about Ms. R (eek!) and were upset their kids didn't move to Ms. J's class.  And I think all change is difficult and not just for our kiddos.  It's hard on us parents as well!!  Change...bah!  This is Tate's 5th classroom since he started there now that I think about it!  He started out in the infant room when he was 11 1/2 months old...he moved to the toddler room at 13 months.  Gah!!  I remember how hard that was for me.  I was beside myself worrying he would never learn to sleep on a mat on the floor.  Ms. K texted me a picture that very first day to show me he was sleeping away!  

The picture Ms. Kristal texted me of Tate during
naptime his very first day in her class!!
Sound asleep!!
Sweet, sweet boy!

And Ms. Kristal LOVED her some Baby Tate.  Most of the other kids in her class moved up to Ms.  Melissa's class that January of 2011 but she somehow was able to keep Tate with her until March, which I was fine with because he was clearly her favorite :).  He was with Ms. Melissa from March 2011 until he moved to Ms. Laura's class last August 2011.
And now he's with Ms. JoAnnie....so sweet to hear him call her that.  He's having fun.  He seems happy when I pick him up.  He hasn't cried at drop-off.  All big wins in my book!

And for him the best part is....
THE NEW TRAIN ON THE WALL OUTSIDE HIS CLASSROOM!!!

He was SOOOOOOO excited to see this train on the wall the first day of his new class that he was bouncing up and down!!!

It's a TRAIN Mommy!!  A Train!!!

Look Mommy!!  There's a CABOOSE!!

These pictures with the train sum up his entire first week in Ms. JoAnn's class!!

I also got him a new backpack and lunch kit.  Here are a few pics from at home that same morning of the first day of  PRESCHOOL!!

Can't stop moving!!

New hook for his back-pack!

And for our enjoyment in the new preschool class he has learned to make festive faces from his BFF (or so he says...)

And in another first....Tate was put to bed tonight for the first time by a non-relative!!  I went to a surprise 40th birthday party for my dear friend Nikki.  It was an early celebration...6pm.  And I didn't want to drive all the way to my parents' and drive all the way back into town for the party...which was at a brewery in downtown...all of 7 minutes from my house.  And I didn't want them to drive all the way out here!  And of course Lindsey had festive plans...I would never ask her to sit on a Saturday night!  My other thought was that Tate needs to get comfortable with letting other people put him to bed.  In fact, though he's been babysat by non family members a few times; he's always been asleep.  He's never even met two of the sitters I've used because I've always put him to bed before they arrived! (one is a dear friend's nanny..she's come twice and the other 2 times were with another friend's babysitter!)  So, Ms. Kristal it was!  And though I told him all week she was going to be here and mentioned it several times today, he was sure to tell me earlier today "I want to go with you.  Stay Mommy.'  When all week at school he's been telling her she was coming to play with him tonight.  And he cried when I left and hung on to my shirt.  It was awful, but I gave him to Ms. Kristal and by the time I was downstairs he had stopped.  He was in bed asleep when I got home!

So after all this excitement this week I think I'm going to go join him in slumberland!!