I just got a call from Cole's director today saying that he is moving up to the one's class. I'd asked her several times over the last month and a half if Cole could move up in November. December was the time they had planned on moving him up, since they usually promote around 13+ months. I could tell that Cole was starting to get bored in his class and in many ways was more than ready to move up. Unfortunately, he had some milestones to meet in order to move
up early. He needed to take a few steps and be off breast milk (since they aren't set up in that room to handle warming up milk). The other milestones, eating table food and drinking out of a sippy cup, he has been doing since 10 months. Well, I couldn't really take him of breast milk until the last week of October and I can't really help when he is going to be ready to walk. But his teachers felt he was ready to move up and his future teachers were eager to see him join their class, so after talking to the director a couple of times, she finally agreed to move him up at any point in November when if he met the milestones. Well, I got a call at work today from the director saying she had seen Cole playing so well in the one's class and was wondering if we still wanted to move him up on Nov 2nd. (Well, I'm guessing she may have found someone who wanted his spot in the infant room...all the same, I'm not complaining:-) I'm just happy he gets to move up in a week or so. He is just ready for more challenging activities and he's been eating the food just fine, he's been drinking regular milk at him and he has been taking a few steps...so I'd say he's working on meeting those milestones just fine:-)
3 comments:
hey les - you totally make me laugh...is it the teacher in you or the mom wanting Cole to move up to the next class so quickly??? Don't worry, he'll grow up quick enough! When I worked at the daycare a few years ago we had one mom who wanted us to begin potty training her little boy - at 8 months old because apparently they could "tell" when he needed to go!! it was ridiculous! anyway, happy first birthday Cole! Glad his party was a great time!
Haha..I think it's probably the teacher in me:-) One of my philosphies when we decided to put Cole in daycare was that we would raise our son and not daycare. Too many parents expect daycare to do all the work for them. Also, I decided that I would compromise on some things so that what he is experiencing at home matches what he is experiencing at school. For example, at 6m I asked what the 1 year olds were drinking out of--sippys or cups. That way I knew what to transition Cole to. So, knowing what the menu was for the 1 year old class and knowing what other skills they needed, I started working with Cole ahead of time. Typically the teachers start working on transitioning with the children at 1 year and by 13months they are ready (hopefully) for the next class. I just started him sooner, if I thought he was ready for it.:-)And, actually it was the teachers who suggested moving him up sooner and not me, at the beginning.
BUT, a big motivation for moving him up was behavioral. He was getting bored in the infant room and was bitting his classmates. I do not want that behavior to continue or escalate.
I love what you said with daycare deciding that you would raise your son and not the daycare - you're so totally right that the majority of parents just "dump" their kids and expect the daycare to do all the work - which doesn't actually work so well when things are not at least reinforced at home - I believe that it's important in a daycare setting for the teachers and parents to work together! And thinking ahead to know what would be coming up at the next stage for Cole and helping him get ready for it is brilliant :-) He certainly sounds like a very smart little boy!! Our children must have very smart mom's :-)
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