At her daycare, there is an infant room and a toddler room, and normally they are transitioned around 12 months old. However, they had a large number of infants this year - most were young infants, but around the time she started there (January) they had a group of older infants (7-10 months), so they started a "creeper" room for the group of older infants who would soon be transitioning to a toddler room.
While that arrangement came as a bit of a surprise to me when I found out (days before she started), it has actually worked well. Instead of being in the infant room for 3 months and then transitioning to the toddler room, she started in this Creeper Room with children around her same age and developmental ability. She has had the same teachers, been in the same room, and has gotten to know the other children in the room.
However, the time has come ...
They alerted me a couple of weeks ago that they would be transitioning the Creepers to the room next door, and they would then be Toddlers. They would keep the same teachers (BONUS!!!!!) and they would start following the Toddler schedule (set meal times for the whole group, one nap a day, etc). They gave me plenty of warning on all of this, they told me it would be coming up, and I was totally (well, not totally, but ok) on board with the transition to the Toddler room. She is, after all, 15 months old now.
So last Thursday, when I walked in, and her name was gone off the crib and the cubby, and then they told me she would be in the room next door, and I had to find where to put her diapers, and realized she would have to nap on a cot ... I had a mild Mommie panic attack. Silently, of course.
I should be able to cope with this. Seriously, she's been moved to the room next door. What's the big deal? She keeps her same teachers, eats the same food, plays with the same kids. And normally this would have happened at 12 months old anyway.
One minor adjustment: I'm used to her getting full-size care reports on her day, detailing what she ate and when, what she drank and when, and who her caregivers were.
That has been replaced with this:
And did you pay attention to this little gem?
She napped for 15 minutes. There are no cribs in the new toddler room. They pull out cots when it is time to take a nap. Obviously my Wee One is going to need some help with that part.
Other than that, she seemed to take it in stride. Mommie, on the other hand ....
Breathe, Mommie, breathe.
3 comments:
Change is tough, no question. It sounds like you are making C's transition to the toddler room as smooth as it can be----still going once a week in the summer, same teachers, friends. You're both going to be so ahead of the game come September!
Good Luck!!
I swear change is harder on the parents than on the kids. Although I do have to say, I'd probably be having panic attacks at the thoughts of A NEW NAP SCHEDULE and WHAT IF HE FELL OFF THE COT and all sorts of other things that he would probably take in stride.
No way could my 17 month nap on a cot. He'd jump right off and throw a tantrum if put back. Aside from that it is hard to see them "grow up" and transition to bigger (but hopefully better) things. Yes, the short toddler gram does feel a little impersonal and brief. At least she has the same caregivers as before. That's a huge bonus!
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