It feels like we've been taking Nicholas to daycare for a long time, but in fact, it's been less than three months. The daycare routine has been pretty consistent from my perspective -- I drop him off, and he cries because he doesn't want me to leave, and later, I pick him up, and he cries because he's relieved to see me.
The teachers tell me that the crying doesn't last long, and he has a great time most days, and I believe them, but I wish he could be happy from start to finish. He had a tough time for the past month while he battled the flu, and even missed some days at the daycare because his fever was too high. When he was finally over it, he seemed to regress a bit in his daycare comfort level because he seemed to cling to me more tightly when I dropped him off in the morning.
Slowly, he got back into his groove, and recently, I started noticing that he stopped crying when I picked him up after work. He still looked concerned, but he put on a brave face for me. Also, for the past 2 days, he didn't cry when I dropped him off either!
Today, one of the teachers told me something that made us all laugh. Apparently, Nicholas has a girlfriend now! He always seemed to get along well with the ladies, but a girlfriend at this age? :)
At nap time today, Nicholas insisted on moving his little cot. When the teacher let him do it, she saw that he set it up right beside one of the girls, Emma.
"Do you want to sleep beside Emma, Nicholas?" she asked Nicholas. Nicholas said yes.
"Do you want to sleep beside Nicholas, Emma?" she asked Emma. Emma said yes.
And so the two napped beside each other.
That's not all! Later in the day, they were sitting at separate tables, but Emma picked up her chair and set it down beside Nicholas!
"I want to sit beside Nicholas!" she said.
So there you have it, my boy is dating..
Nicholas has developed so much ever since he started going to daycare!
- He says "yes" and nods now. He learned "no" a long time ago.. :)
- He can now say and identify all the letters of the alphabet (although "W" is "bayayu"). Sesame Street gets most of the credit for that.
- He can count to ten with his fingers, except he won't say seven (no idea why).
- He can read the numbers 1-10, although again, he won't read seven. I think this is also mostly due to Sesame Street. He also recognizes the 10s, although everything is "n-teen" -- one teen, two teen, three teen, ...
- He knows Barney and Baby Bop (recognizes them and calls them by name). One day, when I came to pick him up, he was watching a Barney video in class, and he was so mesmerized by it that he didn't even notice me when I was standing beside him! He insists on playing Barney music in the classroom's CD player, and he even inserts the CD himself AND skips tracks until he gets to his favourite!! I can't remember if his favourite song is "I Love You" or "Baby Bop Hop".
- He knows colours (blue, red, yellow, black).
- He paints occasionally, and the teacher told me that he learned that combining two colours can make a third colour (she showed me his blue+yellow=green art).
- He knows "If you're happy and you know it", and "Row-row-row your boat". One day he got into one of our laundry baskets and started saying "row row row your boat"!
- He was already able to identify relatives, but he is starting to identify other people by name now. He calls one of his teachers "Shell" (Michelle).
- He has a girlfriend. I've seen other girls hug him, but this is the first time I've heard of him showing an interest in girls.
They grow up so fast, don't they.. :)
