(after the first day of daycare @ 10 weeks)
Not too long after Ralph started there was another baby that started, a girl. I remember "joking" with him that first day asking him if that was his new girlfriend as they both were sitting in bouncy seats, side by side. This girl stayed on until last fall, every once in awhile I'd hear they fight like an old married couple.
Bouncy seats and swings . . . I don't think Ralph every met one he didn't like.
One morning, while still in the infant 1 room, I'm going to guess around 11 months, maybe right at 12 months, I was telling his teacher something about the book Brown Bear and almost as clear as it could be Ralph said Brown Bear with nearly the same intonation I did. He loved reading that book and I could almost recite the animals in order at one point.
Buggy rides, no matter how sad he was, would always brighten his day. Although he had favorite teachers, and they were pretty well known, I was told more than once that it didn't matter who was giving buggy rides he was always game to ride along.
He would go through periods of various levels of separation anxiety. I was going through some old daily reports a few months ago and ran across the same common theme quite a bit "Ralph was a bit sad this morning; had a better afternoon.". When he moved to a new room around 2.5 we started a new tradition of waving at each each other - he from inside the classroom; me from the car across the playground - it helped get me on my way and continued on until he moved into the next room and even a bit into the PreK room.
Somewhere along the way, my little baby grew - sometimes willingly; sometimes he was forced a bit. As much as he stalled, he finally gave in and started walking at 15 months. They sometimes set him in the chairs (seats in the table cutouts) in the Infant 2 room so he could get above everyone else toddling around him; where it wasn't so intimating.
I remember after the first few days in the toddler 1 class (roughly 18 months), he seemed to play much more independently at home, it was almost like an overnight change.
He liked to make up wacky ways to say goodbye in the mornings, the wackiest only lasted a few days but we would put our fingers like "a-ok" and flip them around our eyes like we had glasses on and touch our fingers or "glasses" to each other. I think he called it applejacks.
The floor tiles in the hallway were mostly white with some colored blocks. There was a period we'd have to walk only on the colored tiles - or else we'd be in lava. I know it was a class thing as I heard other kids say the same thing.
Ralph had friends come and go during his time at Fingerprints; the one that made him the most sad was no doubt Isaac. That was a hard one as they had been turning into good friends and Isaac's family didn't live too far from us and the boys would run into each other on the playground a few times.
This past year in the PreK room proved to be his most relaxed year, I guess you could say. He was more relaxed, more daring, more outspoken (when maybe he shouldn't have been), etc. He and some friends took it upon themselves to cut hair one day. The act surprised me a bit as he used to be a bit more timid and quiet but he reached a level with his friends that is similar to a sibling relationship since they are around each other so much. We have also noticed he is aware of his audience and conforms to fit in which isn't always the best choice.
I remember selecting our daycare - do we pick somewhere close to home so we don't have far to go, or somewhere close to work so I could visit during the day if I wanted? As with many things baby-related decisions, we really did not know what we were in for. Fingerprints proved to be great choice. On those nights when Ralph was an infant and he'd cry all the way home, I was so glad we opted for a place close to home.
I'll be curious to watch him grow and develop; curious to see if his past patterns repeat themselves.
Sometimes he seems like he is wise beyond his years. Last night getting out of the car he tells me "I will never let you down" and repeated it a few times. I'm not sure where it came from or what he was getting at so I could only reply with "I hope not, I sure hope not."
Tonight we visited Kahoa and met his new teacher, Mrs. Woodward. I really did enjoy watching him as he was attentive and answer her questions with a head nod or his voice barely above a whisper. I was glad to see my timid boy return in this new and uncertain environment and am a bit hopeful it will remain for awhile.
Tomorrow begins a new adventure, a new school, a new teacher, new classmates, and new rules. I hope he embraces it all!
(at the end of the last day of PreK - jammy day)
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