Y'all. My baby has started transitioning from the baby room to the 1-2 year room. That's a BIG DEAL. I have been holding on to the Pink Room and Mrs. R, but the time has come. Adelaide is moving up.
Today she spent 2 hours in the Green Room, where she is definitely the smallest baby and pretty close to the youngest (she might be, but there's a boy in there with a close birthday). Any time we've visited the room after I've picked her up, the other toddlers swarm her because she's new. They exclaim "baby! baby!" and say her name "Hey Adelaide!" in their little toddler voices because somehow they do know her. She always seems so thrown back by the immediate attention in her personal space, but then she moves along and pulls down all the toys and seems to enjoy herself.
Friday was her last day with a bottle. We'd transitioned one of her two bottles to a sippy cup six weeks ago, or so, and Monday we did all sippies: 2 milk and 1 diluted juice. She did great with it.
She's been getting bored in the Pink Room with no other walking babies (oh, but those babies MOVE!). It was time.
Today she went down to the Green Room from 9 to 11 and did awesome. I talked to her new teacher Ms. M (who Adelaide actually knows well because she spent quite some time in the Pink Room right when Adelaide started day care) when I picked Adelaide up today. Apparently, she wasn't fazed by all the hugs and attention she got from the other babies, and was having a ton of fun playing with the toys. And, MOST EXCITING, she got to go to the playground.
You guys, this will probably be the best part of transitioning for her. This girl is a nature kid. Take her outside and no worries. In the Pink Room, if the weather was nice and no babies were having meltdowns, they'd strap them all in to this crazy big buggy and go for a walk. Now, Adelaide can run around on the playground, climb and slide and everything.
Big girl over here, now.
The transition will take a couple of weeks. I think the hardest part for me is, well, saying goodbye to my baby. She walks, no more bottles, sleeps on a cot, sits at a really cute little table for lunch. And now she won't be in the baby room. And there's so much unknown. For 2 months before we really began day care, she and I went to the Pink Room and spent hours there, playing. I got to see the ins and outs of that room. I have no idea what the routines are in the Green Room. *sigh*
She's growing up, moving up... my little toddler girl. (Who, right now, is teething... so is very much a baby at night, needing mama and her milks... thank goodness, in a way.)
Isn't it so bittersweet, the growing up? You want them to, and yet you so desperately want them to stay little in your arms. sigh... I love your description of them calling out her name, like some toddler version of the show Cheers. Sounds like she's going to fit right in with her new buddies :)
ReplyDeleteYes, very bittersweet. THIS is the part of motherhood I was not warned about: the constant tug-of-war between heartache & nostalgia, excitement & pride.
ReplyDeleteI do think she will be just fine. It seems everyone knows her already and she absolutely loves school. She's definitely ready to move on and keep learning, growing.
I just finished writing a (very sleepy) post about that very tug-of-war. I wish I could have been half as eloquent as you, but it seems as though I am rushing to do everything that is not Ivy related these days. Yesterday I chopped potatoes 4x faster than I ever have in my entire life, because Ivy wanted to be in my arms much, much more.
ReplyDeleteIvy turns one in 17 days, and I am insanely overwhelmed. I am fighting back tears, but I am also elated that she is becoming so independent. I'm starting to realize that this part is never going to get any easier...