Class Together?

This morning, both kids were very good brushing their teeth. They are incredibly fascinated with the dog kennel. I wish that Lily was just as excited about it. No problems getting the kids out the door.

We arrived at daycare around 8:10AM. Miss R's class was outside. Henry snuck through the gate and played while I was talking to Miss Josie. Miss Josie's son has a birthday soon and will be moving up a class (to Henry's room in fact). He is in a different "early voyagers" class from Miss R's b/c teachers and their kids aren't allowed to be assigned to the same room. I mentioned that Miss R has a birthday come up soon too. Miss Josie hadn't realized that it was so soon. I asked her if she thought developmentally if Miss R was ready. She said "Yes, she's ready. She's talking a lot." But she said that she knew that Miss R likes her routine and recommended that we request the transition be made gradually over a few days. She'll be put in Henry's class most likely.

We have mixed feelings about Miss R and Henry being in the same class. Our big concern is Henry. If Miss R were to be pulled from our home, it would be a double blow for him. And that's been very much on the back of our minds, although it would appear that if the judge follows the law, that is unlikely to happen. But we are well-aware that judges sometimes use their own brand of logic when "interpreting" the law. We have no impression of the judge assigned to Miss R's case so we don't know if she is the "creative logic" type or not. On a positive note, I think that it will ease the transition for Miss R considerably to have Henry in her new class without a doubt. We really like Henry's teachers a lot, but we agree that Miss Josie and Miss Kristen appear to have a really deep bond with the kids in their class and that's something we've appreciated when it comes to Miss R's care. Consequently, it will be a transition for us too!

I'm going to discuss the moving up arrangements with the director tomorrow, I think. In some cases, they prefer to move the kids up as a group in January, but that's a full three months away. On the one hand, I like the comfort provided by Miss Josie and Miss Kristen. But on the other hand, I want to be as challenging of Miss R as we are of Henry. In truth, we weren't as challenging of her the first couple months that she was with us b/c we wanted her to get settled and wanted to have a good sense of her abilities. We believe that she has tons of raw potential. We've been reading with her more and more. We've been asking her a lot more questions about her day or what she wants. If it was Henry, I would want him challenged. And knowing that her teacher thinks that she is ready makes me want to challenge R in the same way. So, Voyagers, here comes Miss R!