Transitioning Daycare Rooms

Last week Ivan started the transition to the three-year olds' classroom. The idea was to take him to increasing amounts of time in the new classroom, until the week he turns three, when he would complete the transition. He first went over for a 1/2 circle time, which was then expanded to lunch time, then to nap time.

He knows most, if not all, kids in that classroom as they were all in his room until they turned three and moved over. Also, since the two and three-year olds are combined at the end of the day, and spent time in the three year olds classroom, he's familiar with the kids, the room and the teachers.

Both we and Ms. Yvonne anticipated that it would take him a while to transition, considering that he still occasionally doesn't want to let go when we drop him off at daycare and considering that he seemed pretty attached to both Ms. Yvonne and Ms. Azeb, his teachers.

But on Wednesday night when Andy picked him up, they told him he was ready to transition. He apparently didn't want to return to his two-year old classroom. So yesterday, Thursday, he made the transition.

I was very proud of him. He's no longer a "froggy," but is "butterfly" now. Andy took the frog from his cubby to bring home. I'm glad he thought of doing that. It's a nice gesture that I probably would've forgotten. (Like when I forgot to take Ivan's tag with all the birth info that was attached to his crib in the hospital. Luckily, I remembered to take it with Allen.)

Now, he has a new cubby with a butterfly on it. He took a photo of myself, Allen and him to put under the cubby. (I was trying to find a photo of Andy, myself and him, but despite all my picture taking and book making, I realized I had no such prints at hand to give him.) On Tuesdays, he'll take things for show-and-tell. He will also get a "library card" to check out books on Thursday and return them on Tuesday. Big boy stuff.

I'm a bit sad that he's left Ms. Yvonne's classroom. I really like her. He bonded with her, and she was really good with him. But that's what growing up is all about. Things change. Time to move on.

However, I'm pleased that he's transitioned so easily, without any drama. The three year old classroom is a bit more structured and they do more complex activities that are age appropriate. He must like that.