New School

Well, the biggest event for Evie this week is that she started daycare again.  The last time she'd been to daycare was Friday, June 27, so it had been 6 weeks since she'd been away from us and in school.  Her new class is smaller - only five kids - and only two of them are full-time like Evie.  In fact, the other kid who goes five days a week is also named Evelyn, but her nickname is Evy with a short e at the beginning (Eh-vee).  Evie and Evy enjoy playing together every day, and Evy is about a year older than Evie so her language skills are more advanced.  On the first day Evy took Evie around the room while I was in there and showed her all of the toys, playdoh, blocks, etc.

 

Getting in the car for "school time!"

 

Surveying the new playground

 

Showing off her outfit - she is in the butterfly class so I dressed her in a shirt that has a butterfly embroidered on it

 

In the kitchen center

 

Construction Center

The transition hasn't been super easy for Evie.  After 6 weeks of being with us full time (or at least with someone in the family), moving, changing beds, traveling, etc., I think it's a harder transition than it would have been if we had just switched schools.  She's out of the habit of going to daycare.  The first day she was clinging onto me while I sat in the classroom and filled out paperwork, but she eventually let go and went to explore.  She noticed when I got up to leave though and started crying.  She was off on Tuesday because they do a staggered enrollment, and Wednesday through today she's cried when I've left.  In fact, yesterday and today she cried when we started walking down the hall to her class, and yesterday when I picked her up she had been sobbing and wailing for about 10 minutes for me.  It makes me so sad for her.  But I know most of the day she is fine and I know she has fun.

I really like her new teacher Ms. Pam.  She sends nice notes home about Evie's progress and adjustment to class and seems very patient and encouraging.  She's getting Evie started on potty training (I admit we haven't started anything at home yet as I still think it's a little too early - she needs more language skills to make the experience less frustrating, in my opinion), and she reports what they do during class.   Yesterday they made pictures of things that start with the letter D by gluing cut outs onto paper, so Evie and I had a nice conversation on the way home about things that start with D.  I prompted her with doggie and daffodil and daisy, and all on her own she came up with dolphin (doe-shee as she says it).  I was pretty amazed by that.

Even if the transition to school isn't going as smoothly as I'd hoped, I'm happy to report that she has finally slept through the night IN HER OWN BED!  We've been back home since last Tuesday and for at least 5 nights in a row after we got back I would put Evie into her bed and as I was walking out the door she would get up and come over to the door and lie down on the floor and wail for Mama or Daddy.  No amount of going in and calming her made it better.  No amount of telling her it was night time and she needed sleep in her own bed made her any more inclined to do so.  But slowly in the last few days, she has gotten more accustomed to her room.  One night she didn't get out of the bed immediately but waited until I closed the door before she came to it and cried.  The next night she came to do the door but didn't cry for another 10 minutes.  Baby steps...

The night before last she had a bath and was playing with these frog bathtoys.  There's two little frogs and a big frog.  She took a liking to that big frog and dubbed her, "Mama Frog".  She liked it so much that I let her hang onto it after bathtime.  So Evie and Mama Frog brushed teeth together and I read a book to Evie and Mama Frog and then Evie and Mama Frog laid down to sleep.  I made a big deal of Evie making sure Mama Frog was ready to go night night through the whole process and I think that helped (this idea was planted by Aunt Kathy's friend Jan).  It was the first night Evie didn't cry.  I did hear her get out of bed, but she didn't cry until about 4 am.  

Last night, though, we used Mama Frog as a transition again.  Kathy had been over to babysit while Seth and I went to a move with Grannadaddy and it was pretty late when we got home (well, late in toddler time).  We told Kathy bye bye and told Daddy night night and brushed teeth and changed her diaper and then I remembered Mama Frog who had been left in the kitchen at breakfast.  So we went and got Mama Frog and read a book together and then Evie and Mama Frog went to bed in the crib.  And Evie did not cry out once all night!  And she slept in her bed!  I am hoping this continues.  We used Mama Frog today to go to school too and even though Evie was still crying when I left, I am hoping Mama Frog will eventually help with the transition to school too.