Toddler Room

Abigail has now been in the toddler room for over a month and has been thriving!  It is much more structured than the infant room but Abigail seems to like it. She was able to go in a few mornings with JP and hang out in November, and he reported that she was watchful and quiet at first but then got more comfortable and ventured out more over time.  Then she spent several mornings over in the toddler room the last week before the transition. She apparently enjoyed it because she would protest when they took her back into the infant room, and even tried to sneak back in to the big-kid room through the connecting door once or twice when she thought she could get away with it.

The baby room was all on-demand, all-the-time, which made sense when the teachers had to deal with 8 babies on 8 different schedules. So Abigail would have her bottle and meals at certain times, but other kids would be napping or playing at those times, etc.  But the toddler room is on a schedule. They have snack in the morning, then art or an activity, then play time, then outside time, then lunch, then nap, then more snack, then play time and "teacher directed time" and more outside time.  Everyone gets their diapers changed at the same time, and the teacher calls them over in turn.  There is a lot more room to roam around, more toys and more variety of activities, given that the children are older and of course, more active.

The kids range in age from Abigail's age all the way up to 2, so there is a big variation in that. There are now 12 kids and 2 teachers instead of 8 babies for 2 teachers. A few of the kids from Abigail's baby room class moved up before her but were not walking as well as her, so she seemed more comfortable than them in part because she could get around, I think. The teachers are encouraging and engaging with the kids and have been helpful as we get used to the new routines for the room. Abigail particularly likes one of her teachers, and the feeling is mutual, and will make a beeline for her when I drop her off in the morning.

I was worried about Abigail's naps as I had mentioned that she was sometimes only sleeping 30 minutes all day in the baby room.  In the toddler room they  have a two hour nap on the schedule, and the kids all nap on cots in the room with the lights out.  Abigail has actually done much better than I had feared, almost always napping an hour, often 90 minutes, and sometimes up to 2 hours, depending on the day.  Her favorite teacher often sits by her cot and does her paperwork and then pats Abigail's back when she wakes up early, and reports that she can sometimes get her back down by this approach. 

The teachers also use sign language quite a bit so they get all the credit for Abigail learning to sign more, all done, and milk. We are trying to reinforce it at home but we are thankful for all the work they have done as it makes things so much easier for us when we can understand what Abigail wants.

One quirk is that they like to put Abigail's hair up into ridiculous ponytails that stand straight up on her head, but she seems not to mind and she is still cute!

p.s. I am noticing that I have a lot of pictures of Abigail sitting in her chair, because she is on the move so much that many of my other pictures end up blurry!