Festival season
Summer festival season has begun! Morgan liked sampling the food at Taste of Reston.
Transitioning to the Toddler 1 room
Morgan’s time in the Infant Room will be ending soon. She transitions the week of July 6. By Thurs/Fri of that week she will be spending all day in the Toddler 1 room.
In preparation for the move, she begins one nap a day the week of June 22. Not only do they go to one nap a day, but apparently they sleep on cots. I have no idea how that is going to work, but I suspect they know what they are doing.
Another big shift: we no longer bring in multiple bottles every morning. Except for right before the nap, the kids use sippy cups. And so we just bring in one empty sippy cup. They fill it with cow’s milk for us, wash it, and keep it there.
Here’s the Toddler 1′s schedule (more or less):
| 7:30 | The Center opens. |
| 7:30 – 8:30 | Free Play. Toddlers explore a choice of activities. A small breakfast is offered. |
| 8:30 – 9:15 | Free Play continues. Art and Montessori Lessons are introduced. |
| 9:15 – 9:30 | Diapering. Toddlers explore play areas while Teachers are changing diapers. After all the diapers have been changed, clean-up begins. |
| 9:30 – 9:45 | Circle Time. Teachers lead the children in singing. Finger Play and Movement Songs are introduced casually as an activity choice. |
| 9:45 – 10:00 | Hand-washing and Morning Snack. |
| 10:00 – 10:15 | Tables are cleaned and we prepare to go outside (Courtyard, Playground, Dance Room, etc.) |
| 10:15 – 11:15 | Outside Play. We focus on gross motor activities. |
| 11:15 – 11:30 | Return from Outside. We wash hands and prepare for Lunch. |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Lunch. Teachers sit with toddlers while they eat. |
| 12:00 – 12:30 | Tables and chairs are cleaned. Children are diapered. Free Play. This is the best time for you to visit your child. |
| 12:30 – 12:45 | Toys are cleaned up and cots are put down. |
| 12:45 – 1:00 | Bottles and sippy cups are given out. Children are helped to sleep by Teachers. |
| 1:00 – 3:15 | Naptime. Lunch Breaks and Meetings for teachers. Toddler Reports are prepared and Portage Guides are updated. This is the best time for you to call to check on your child. |
| 3:15 – 3:45 | Children who are not already up are gently awakened. Cots are put away, diapers are changed, and Free Play begins. |
| 3:45 – 4:00 | Hand-washing and Afternoon Snack. |
| 4:00 – 4:15 | Tables are cleaned and we prepare to go outside. |
| 4:15 – 5:15 | Outside play. We focus on gross motor activities. |
| 5:15 – 5:30 | Hand-washing. Diaper changing. |
| 5:30 – 6:00 | Free Play. Late snack is offered. |
| 6:15 | The Center closes. |
Sleeping through the night for a little over a month now
You know, in all the milestones I post about here, I forgot to mention a huge one. Sleeping through the night. For a long time Morgan had been going down about 7:30, getting up once around 3am for about 15 minutes, and then sleeping through until 6:30. We probably could have kept up with that schedule somewhat indefinitely. But then she started waking when we were going to bed, waking again around 3, and then fitfully sleeping the rest of the morning away (so she might wake at 4:30, 5:15, then 6:30 for good, or something to that effect). And that was unsustainable. So we bit the bullet, went through two particularly rough nights, and came out of it all with a kid that goes down around 7pm and wakes up around 6:30am. Keeping her up a little later (say on a Friday night) does not mean she’ll sleep later in the morning, which is disappointing, but there you have it.
It was very late April/early May when we made this transition, so I’d say she started sleeping through the night at about 10 months.
Growing up
We’ve started moving Morgan to cow’s milk. We gave her raw cow’s milk for the first time yesterday (as opposed to yogurt, cheese, and the like, which she’s been eating for awhile). She had no allergic reaction and seems to like it fine, which is great news.
While hanging out with her in the courtyard today (on the grass), twice she inadvertantly stood without assistance. She simply got distracted and forgot to hold on. Only for a moment, but nonetheless.
Summer movies and shoes
The Crystal City Monday night movies started up in May, but we made it to our first one last week. I doubt we’ll make quite as many as we did last year because: 1) Keeping Morgan out past her bedtime is harder, 2) the theme is superheroes instead of James Bond.
Morgan also wears shoes now in preparation for switching rooms at her daycare (where all children in the ones room are required to wear shoes at all times).
