Thursday, September 09, 2010

promoted to preschool?!

Dropped Griffin off at daycare this morning, put three extra pairs of underpants and shorts in his cubby (we're on day 10 of toilet training), and then found out that they're moving him up from the toddler room to the preschool room. This suprised me--he's only 2.5 years old!--and then I was suprised by how close I was all of a sudden to tears.

The teacher reassured me that he's showing all the signs of being ready to transfer to the older kids' room, that they'll do it gradually, that if he doesn't respond well they'll keep him with the toddlers for a few more weeks...but still! I mean, this is my baby we're talking about.

But I have to admit, I've noticed him growing and developing by leaps and bounds. The potty training, yes, but also learning to turn somersaults, climbing on furniture he couldn't reach before, drinking from a non-sippy cup with less spillage, that sort of thing. Plus, the boy is tall! People never guess his true age--they always think he's older.

And his language! It keeps exploding! Especially his English! His sentences get longer and longer, he uses irregular past tense verbs correctly, he even hears himself say something ungrammatical and fixes it himself occasionally.

And it's not just the grammar: he keeps inventing with language. He regularly makes up new song lyrics (like a recent lullaby to his own feet) and tells jokes (or rather, says things just to be funny). He can carry on monologues, like after his nap, observing and commenting and reminding himself of things; sometimes the monologues turn into dialogues as he converses with a doudou (stuffed animal) and changes his voice for the giraffe's reply!

He spends a lot of time playing with trains and balls and blocks, but he still reaches for a book first thing in the morning. Ed has to be at work early, so he'll scoop Griffin up and drop him in our bed on his way out the door, and Griffin and I read together even before we have breakfast. We read all day long.

Just yesterday he astonished me by asking for the story about les animaux (the animals) who want to attraper (catch) the singe (monkey): I had no idea what he was talking about until he brought me an anthology with a story in French about that highly pursued monkey which we had read one time. Over a month ago. And never discussed again.

I love age 2.5! Maybe that's why I'm reluctant to see him "graduate" to preschool--everything right now is so dang good I don't want things to change.

8 comments:

  1. At 2.75 and less than a month away from Real Preschool, I can sympathize with this! No question it's going to be harder on me than on my daughter. She is ready. I'm the one hesitating... :)

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  2. How do you even know when they're ready for a transition like this? When I showed up to pick him up tonight, he was in underpants encrusted with not-too-recent poop--the teacher hadn't noticed. To me, that sounds like he's not ready! (Or that the teacher isn't ready for a boy in the midst of potty training.)

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  3. Sigh. I remember bringing Carl home with old poop encrusted underpants once (which I noticed because of a poop smear on his leg!), but at least that was in Toddlers. They used to have "pre-cats" for 2.5-3 year olds to transition to preschool and finish potty training. They've rearranged age groups a lot lately, so maybe that went away?

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  4. Sarah -- it's Karin, Ed's friend from high school (with Katy, Julie, Janet, Joe, etc.). I am a regular reader of Keith Eckstein's A Taste of Garlic and he reviewed your blog today, Saturday 11 September. I was thinking about you and Ed not long ago, and I am thrilled that Keith reviewed your blog so that I could be back in touch.

    I'm actually living in Paris right now. Lots is explained on my blog An Alien Parisienne if you want to check that out.

    I'm also excited about your blog as my degree is in second language education, and language acquisition is something I'm interested in.

    Most of all, I am thrilled to see that Carl has been joined by Griffin and it is fantastic to read about his language development. *Wonderful* for you and your family, Sarah! A belated congratulations on Griffin's joining your family. :)

    I'm looking forward to following your blog and being back in touch with you and Ed. :)

    Take care.
    Karin

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  5. P.S. I am now babysitting for a little boy who is almost four, and I am realizing what a *helpful* resource this blog is going to be for me with doing that. The boy is French, but his mother has siblings who are married to native English speakers, and she wants her son to have more exposure to English. This has been interesting for me as my French is pitiful at best (although I'm using and understanding more and more), although I do know how to help little ones acquire language (English specifically).

    I realized looking at a few posts that I'm going to get a lot of information here. YAY!!!

    (Oh, I am so excited to have found your blog. A big thank you to Keith! :) )

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  6. Congratulations, I'll bet his advancement in English has something to do with the fact that he's been learning other languages as well, I really do think it indirectly helps.

    Cheers,
    Andrew

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  7. @Elizabeth--I guess once (per kid) is inevitable, acceptable. We need more information about why they think he's ready to be in with the threes and fours along with reassurance that he'll get the attention he needs during potty training.

    @Andrew--I agree completely! I also won't be surprised if Griffin shows skill in music and math.

    @Karin--How cool to find each other in francophile cyberspace like this! Thank you so much for your kind words. Ed was surprised and delighted to hear from you too. We'll both be reading your blog and looking forward to hearing more about your adventures in Paris. And I hope that the info and links here do give you a few ideas of what you can do with the boy you're taking care of and teaching English to--and I hope you'll share some of your activities and resources too! Maybe you could do a guest post now and then. (This blog actually started when I was Carl's babysitter, two years before Griffin arrived.)

    Thanks also for the congratulations about the birth of Griffin. Can you believe that your friend Ed from high school is a papa?! (And a phenomenal one, if you haven't picked up on that.)

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  8. Daycare update: They're going to let Griffin stay in the toddler room until he is fully potty-trained. Phew!

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