Little Gators

Here are some photos of David's crash course to update his skills needed for being moved up to the 12-24 month old classroom at daycare. He's gone from a 3:1 ratio to a 6:1 ratio in terms of adult eyes.

He's bigger than many of the older children, but came home the first day with an "incident report" explaining why he had a red mark on his face. The report read "David was playing with a friend, and the friend hit David in the face with a shovel. DISCIPLINARY ACTION: A gentle touch was demonstrated to the friend. An icepack was applied to David's face." In tiny writing between and above the words "a" and "shovel" was the word "plastic".

I hope the gentle touch was not demonstrated with the shovel. Joaquim's main concern is why the care of David now only inludes the icepack. In the 6 weeks - 12 months classroom it was "icepack and TLC". Life in the bigger classroom, I guess.

I have observed David's new class a few times. I say observation, but of course I was right in there playing with the children. Some funny incidents ...

-Singing a fingerplay song for one child and seeing the little ones come out from all sorts of corners for the adult-directed fun. The children were mesmorized during the "Here's a ball for baby" song. The room was totally quiet except for the singing. The song goes ... "here's the way the baby" plays [cover eyes and pause] "peek a BOO!". During the pause, David gave a great squeal in anticipation of the outcome.

-David took a frypan from a child who is closer to 20 months. The child grabbed it back and said "Mine". David tried to get it again. The child hit David with the [plastic] frypan. The teachers demonstrated a gentle touch and said "be nice". I was cracking up. David certainly wasn't hurt and I was so impressed with the other child's language use.

-A child stood up next to David and not fully aware of his own size ended up knocking over David. The child looked at me with concern, and then patted David on the head and said "nice". I think that boy has had the modelling of the gentle touch a few times.
So at home David and I "cram" in the morning for "new class survival skills". As you can see from the photos, he is almost ready to let go of his father's leg and take a step when we find a really motivating toy. I figure if he can run away, that will be a good survival technique when plastic shovels and frypans are brandished. Also, I think he will get more food at mealtime if he can use a spoon. He needs support in getting the angle right on his spoon to get it in his mouth, but when he succeeds he has a huge smile of satisfaction.