Today is an odd Tuesday... Nathan is at home. Last week he had his last Tuesday and Wednesday of Mother's Morning Out at our church this year. He has had so much fun, and benefited so much from these hours spent out of our house with a little extra stimulation than he gets from being at home with me while I'm doubling up on my job and parenting.
For parents who were fairly (ok, completely) set on having a parent home with the kids, Mark and I were nothing short of amazed at the progress Nathan made after he started spending more time with other kids -- and without Mommy.
He was the youngest in his class, the only non-walker for the first half of the year, and he started off in September fairly new to holding his own bottles (sippy cups at that point... he never did really hold a bottle himself. what? he didn't have that many bottles, it's not that he's a complete doofus or something).
But none of that stuff got him down. His teachers consistently told us that he was one of the most easygoing kids in the class... happy to play with whatever he could reach, talk to whomever would listen, and (for the most part) eat whatever we sent with him (though that last task was met with significant challenge on days when a delivery truck was parked outside the classroom... not much can distract Nathan more than a big truck!!)...
So this week is a little bittersweet. He's starting "real" preschool in the fall, and although we anticipate he will still have one day of MMO as well, being part of the big-boy school just makes him seem so much older.
It's also bittersweet because it's likely to be the last time he gets to go to church and play with his beloved Howayda. She's the regular in the infant room on Sundays (where babies stay until they can walk... as you can imagine Nathan set some records for longevity in the infant room), and she's also been his MMO teacher in the young toddler room on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Suffice it to say -- Nathan loves her. She's been taking care of him since he was less than two weeks old, and for the majority of this school year, he spent three mornings a week with her. He could say her name before he said Marmie, Ashley, or Oh Nick. He asks for her by name when we pull into the church parking lot. He asks for her anytime we mention going to church (and immediately follows that up with asking if we get to ride the church bus, for the record... yes, the child loves him a bus almost as much as he loves him a truck). But after this week, it's unlikely he will be in Howayda's care at church any more. (Mark and I have been noting things that will cause some jealousy when Beanie gets here, and we have both decided that there is no way we're letting Nathan see us leave her with Howayda in the infant room -- he will get dropped off in his room first, I don't even want to imagine the fit of fury that would ensue if he knew Beanie got to play with her and he didn't.)
Howayda and Nathan - October 2008
The class made certificate-things with their handprints to commemorate the year's end. Can you tell Nathan doesn't like to get his hand dirty? Apparently he threw his first legitimate MMO tantrum over having this paint on his hands; I am not even kidding his was the only one that didn't look like a pristine cutsie handprint on that paper. 
Here's to another big(ger)-boy moment. :)
1 comment:
I remember one particular oldest child that was quite pristine in feeding herself....didn't want to get her fingers sticky....followed by a middle child who was followed by gnats a good bit of the time......
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