Keeping step

I mentioned Evey's friend Hayden in the previous post and how she has moved along to the next classroom.  Hayden arrived at daycare about the same time as Evelyn, but she's a little older.  I think she's 2 or 3 months older.  Evelyn was 6 months old when we first put her into daycare and she transitioned very well.  Hayden was already deep into the attachment phase, so it was much harder for her to deal with being apart from her mom. Evey's familiarity became a comfort to her.  She and Evelyn are now steadfast buddies who greet each other with a hug. "Evey" was one of Hayden's first words.

I had noticed that Hayden's been missing from Ev's classroom for a few days.  When we bumped into Hayden and her mom at the Easter fest, her mom (I should know her name but I don't....we are called "Evey's Mom" and "Hayden's Mom" at school) told us she'd moved up to the older classroom.  It was a bit of a shock to me...so I inquired further.  Hayden is making great strides in her language ability -- she is speaking full sentences, knows her colors, can count to 10, and knows part of the alphabet.  She also, apparently, started announcing when she needs to go poo, so that has prompted the toilet vs diapers process.  Hayden, in other words, has launched into a whole new phase of development and no longer really belongs with the "babies."

It's funny what that information did to me.  I caught myself making comparisons and felt the rise of anxiety about what Evey is and isn't doing...whether I've been spending enough time working with her to learn shapes or colors... Is she behind?  Am I holding her back in some way?  Have I done something wrong???  And thankfully I caught myself before the mental conversation went any further.  Evelyn is an extremely happy, extremely social, extremely healthy child.  She is so engaging, and chatters away in her own little language, finding ways to get the message across to us.  Tag and I are in absolutely no hurry to rush her out of baby-ness.  We have faith that she will continue to evolve, just as she has up to this point, naturally and gracefully.  And I am not compelled to drill  her on colors or numbers....I want her to enjoy learning.  I will simply encourage her curiosity as best I can so that she might keep it longer than many children do, and if we're lucky, even on into adulthood.  Being new at this parenting-a-small-child thing causes me to question myself at every turn.  It's nice to step out of the "competition" ....  We'll be with little Hayden in the next level classroom soon enough  :o)