In case you are wondering what I'm talking about. Welcome to the newest episode in the wonderful world of parenthood where we all sound like blathering, braggin idiots all the time. Can't use universal terms like 18 - 36 month room. That would be too easy. It's Monkeys or Butterflies and MAX is a Monkey. Still confused? Me, too.
Max has finally transitioned to the next room up at child care about 3 weeks ago. The rooms are all named after animals and his new room's cutey moniker is Monkeys. The official room sign is pictured below.
We have waited a looooooooooooooooooooooong time for this transition. He was in the old room about 4 months longer than he should have been. There was some sort of logjam in the transitioning. I guess Max was born at a particularly fertile time of year in the Ft. Detrick area. There were 5 toddlers waiting to move up in his room and they were getting BORED. Boredom combined with small spaces at this age is not a good thing. The kids answer to this was pretty much hitting, biting, chasing and pushing. There were a lot of incident reports to sign for all of the parents.
But, he's moved up and he got to go with one of his good friends, Trey. Change is hard for Max, particularly when it involves a change in the people in his life. He still has a good amount of stranger anxiety so he's been trying to adjust to the new caregivers. It's a challenge for all of us but we're getting through and Max is doing well. At first he would come home and say, "No Monkeys." The first day he went to Monkeys he came back to the Pooh Bear room at lunch and said, "I back. No Monkeys. Trey Monkey."
He's gotten more comfortable since then. It helps that they spend a lot more time outside. He LOVES being outside. They have a lot of activities and he's totally intrigued by the potty training. He's gone back to the 15 minute nap and, hopefully, that will change once he gets more comfortable with his new peeps. Though the drop off is still hard each day, he looks forward to school and always says, "Monkeys?" with an excited voice as we are getting ready in the morning.
One of his favorite people at school is an on-call employee named Michelle. She was in his room a lot when he first starting coming to the center. She is now in Monkeys covering for a gal who's on maternity leave. That has helped Max a lot. He will pat the ground next to him in whatever activity they are doing and say, "Sit. Chelle." Very cute.
Another one of his friends from Pooh Bears has transitioned into the room and he likes that. He's also made a new friend, Liam. The other day I asked him who his friends were at school and he told me Trey, Liam and Morgan. I was so impressed. It's amazing to think that we can actually have little conversations now. I don't know about Max but Dan and I are thrilled.
I took a picture of one of his art projects at school. Slowly, he's becoming more comfortable being messy. He likes playing with crayons and markers and even ink pads or paint brushes. The fingerpaint is still too messy for him but he might squish it around one of these days soon.
I started with out serious monkey and I'll sign off with our cheeky monkey. See you soon.
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