Moving Up

Painting at school (in the baby class).

At school, coming through the tunnel!

So tomorrow, Charlotte officially moves up to the next class at school (wistful sigh). It’s been a bittersweet two weeks as we say good-bye to her amazing, sweet, and oh so loving teachers, and hello to . . . change.

What? Change?!

Of course, I worried about Charlotte transitioning to something new and different from the only routine she’s ever really known. I felt that I’d never like the new teachers as much as the baby teachers (they’re super sweet to her—I’m just being clingy to the baby teachers), I found the idea of Charlotte staying put on a cot for naptime laughable, I hated that she’d only have one nap per day, and I couldn’t banish thoughts along the lines oh-my-goodness-she’s-not-totally-self-sufficient-at-self-feeding-with-the-spoon-who-will-make-sure-she-eats-enough?

Well, once again I’ve been schooled by my little girl—and perhaps the child care folks who apparently DO have a clue what they’re doing.

Charlotte’s school has a blessedly humane way of transitioning the kiddos, doing it incrementally over the course of 2 weeks. Well. Yesterday, she went over there at 9:30 a.m. and stayed through snack time, outside time, circle time, lunchtime, and . . . (eek!) naptime.

First, I worried about her taking only one nap per day. Surely, surely Charlotte is a 2-naps-per-day girl.

Apparently not. As they transitioned her to napping only in the afternoon, she napped for longer—meaning, her combined sleeping time was greater with only ONE nap. Huh.

Now, Maryland being the highly regulated state that it is, I had to sign a waiver for her to nap in a cot 2 inches off the ground in the new class. It was not the apparent danger that worried me; it was my certainty that my anti-nap offspring would just crawl off that cot and gleefully let the staff spend naptime chasing her all over the room.

Wrong! During her first naptime in the toddler class, she slept for the entire duration of naptime, not making a peep.

The best thing? Last evening, Chris and I picked up the jolliest, happiest Charlotte EVER. She was just GIDDY—laughing, laughing, laughing. Her teacher (in the baby class) said that she had had an unbelievably good day. She loves hanging out with the big kids and doing their activities, eating with them, playing outside with them, and, because she’s Charlotte, tackling them.

Perhaps one reason she’s transitioned so well is because this class is much more structured (the baby class isn’t structured at all—the babies run the show because they’re babies and it’s their right). But Charlotte, even as an infant, has always been very scheduled. You know what time it is just by what kind of squawk she makes. Now, she thrives on routine and predictability (as all toddlers do) even more, and although she has had more schedule and routine than perhaps she would have had if I had stayed home with her, she’s hungry for more. I’m not saying that Charlotte is rigid in her routine—she most certainly is not. In fact we’ve been told she’s the most laid back kid in her class (we have NO IDEA where she got this from, because Chris and I are NOT flexible people). She simply has a very predictable rhythm and thrives within a reasonably structured day. I knew this, but I doubted her, doubted her teachers, and doubted the school.

So, Charlotte herself showed me that it’s okay she’s moving up to the next class, that she’s ready for it.

Mommy is just a little slower.