The Toddler Room

so, max started in the toddler room at daycare this week, and before he actually moved up to the new class, i was afraid i would have the same issues that i had with the big baby room at first. but i didn't need to worry. i think i love the toddler room. it's funny how max has spent the majority of his daycare career in the big baby room (aka, infant 2 class) when i like the other classes so much more. except it isn't really funny. i mean, i got used to the big baby room, and once he was about 9 months old, the big baby room was good for max. but it still sucked for the two or three months before that.

max spent 7 1/2 months in the big baby room at daycare. he started that class when he was 6 1/2 months old and the youngest baby in the class, and now he's 14 months old and was the oldest baby in that class. now he is 3rd youngest in the toddler room. but he is smaller than both the kids who are younger than he is. the youngest kid in the toddler room isn't really a toddler yet. he is 13 1/2 months old, but he can't walk yet. so it seems silly that they moved him up just because he was next in line. the little girl who was behind that kid can walk, but she is still in the infant 2 class. i don't see why they couldn't have moved her up instead and left the kid who can't walk yet in infant 2 for a little while longer. there isn't much difference in their ages (maybe 2 weeks). oh well. at least it wasn't my kid that got stuck in the toddler room before he could walk.

anyway, i was pleased with max's first day in the toddler class. they sent home a schedule last week, and it really isn't much different from the infant 2 schedule. they have lunch at the same time. the only differences are that snack times are a half hour later, and afternoon nap starts an hour later than in infant 2. but max never went to sleep at the beginning of nap time, anyway, so he's still actually going to sleep around the same time in the afternoon (2-ish). also, they do a morning snack from 8:00-8:30 for the toddlers, which is only about an hour after max has breakfast. daycare provides that snack. this morning it was pop-tarts (which max doesn't really like), cheez-its (which max LOVES), or animal crackers (they're ok). max probably won't ever eat much at morning snack, and i guess it won't hurt it him. mostly, it's for the kids who don't eat breakfast before they get dropped off or wake up really early, and their parents usually bring breakfast for them.

the toddlers have their own little cafeteria where they eat lunch and their afternoon snack. it's really just a break room with two big tables that have baby seats built into them. each kid has a little cubby in there with their snacks.

the toddler room is much less chaotic than the big baby room, and the teachers seem much more organized. there is a hook below each kid's box (where we leave snacks, pacifiers, etc) to hang his bag on, instead of the jumbled shelf where the bags went in infant 2. one of the teachers showed me everything on max's first day (where to put max's juice and milk in the fridge, the toddler cafeteria & cubbies, etc.) and asked if i had any questions. i just felt like they had their shit together, you know?

so yeah, i think this toddler thing is gonna work out.