growing baby

Today was Mateo’s first day at the Discovery Center (Hill and Dale’s bigger-kid branch located in a different part of town).  Mateo had a great day today–he said goodbye to Ilya easily and the teachers report that he had lots of fun (played, used the toilet, slept well for nap).  In fact, when I arrived to pick him up, he didn’t want to go home–I had to tell him that he could come again to the Discovery Center tomorrow before I managed to tear him away.

Saying goodbye to the Learning Center (Hill and Dale’s babies and toddlers branch) was harder than I realized it would be though.  While I was/am so excited to have Mateo move on to new adventures, I’d so grown to depend on Jessica and the other teachers advice and thoughts and encouragement that it was hard to let that go.  I keep reminding myself that Roan will be heading there in another year or two and that I’ll get to see the teachers at other Hill and Dale events.

Anyway, even though today was Mateo’s first day at the DC, he’d been preparing for it for a while.  For one, he’s in the third (and last) batch of kids moving from the LC to the DC this summer, so he’s seen his friends go through the process before him.  Also, three weeks before transition, Mateo and the seven other kids in his move-up group started eating lunch outside in a different area.  There they discussed, with a teacher, the Discovery Center, what it was like, who would be there, what kinds of toys they had, and so forth.  Then last week was transition week.  On Tuesday the kids went to the DC for snack (I drove four toddlers in my car–it was a total toddler party bus and they loved it!) and on Thursday they visited the DC from snack through lunch (and came out literally jumping with excitement, all of them).  Then this past Saturday all the transitioning families went to the Learning Center to say goodbye to the teachers (and toys), pick up the kids stuff from their cubbies, drive to the Discovery Center to meet the new teachers there and put all the things away in the cubbies there.  So Mateo felt really comfortable with the environment when we started today.  Let’s hope the rest of the week goes just as smoothly!

Toddler Party Bus

The kids in Mateo's Move-Up Group

Thank you, Jessica, for being a wonderful Special Friend. We miss you already!