Week 207 motherhood – final EarlyON class, last week of summer, first 2 days of kindergarten!!!

The scene while waiting to enter the kindergarten gates for the first time

Week 207 motherhood with 3 year old 11 month old and 20 month old.

Warning: long blog post ahead (6,600+ words).

August 29 to September 4, 2024:

August 29: This time next week when I publish my blog post, I will be talking about an entirely new experience: the firstborn’s first few days at kindergarten!! I can’t believe it. We are just a long weekend away now…
Today, the weather was nice and mild enough that we finally made it to the Thornhill Summer Camp titled “Creative Hands” where it’s an outdoor program for the kids 2 years and up to do art in the park with different materials and elements. The weather was too hot and humid earlier in the week to venture in the park and after today, I’m actually glad we stuck to one event a day because I was so mentally drained and physically tired from attending two programs in one day with the child.
Grandma and the secondborn came with us too because I knew that the Thornhill staff wouldn’t be strict about the secondborn attending (as she’s under the 2 year old mark) and since it’s an outdoor program, it should be suitable for the younger child too. I love how much heart and effort the staff put into their programming. You can really tell they enjoy their job (same thing can be said about the facilitators who are running the Summer Camp for Little Artists this month — but I couldn’t say the same for the facilitators who ran it last month unfortunately). Both kids tried some paintbrush painting on the hula hoops which had a screen glued on to it. It was hard to really paint it though because the wind would cause the hoops to move around.
Both kids spent the majority of their time at the “Nature Suncatcher” station where they collected materials from the surrounding (leaves, flowers, acorns, rocks, etc.) to stick on to the sticky sheet of plastic. It turned out to be a beautiful and fun hands-on artwork. Both kids enjoyed collecting items into a small paper bag first and then sitting at the picnic table to stick the items on it.
They did some sidewalk chalk drawing/hammering before it was time for circle time and some reading. The book that the facilitator read was very creative and meaningful, basically saying that mistakes can be turned into artwork. I didn’t catch the name of the book unfortunately. Again, when we did the songs part, the 3 year old sat it out and just watched. Edit: Found the book online! It’s this one! “Beautiful Oops!”
It was such a nice mild day with breeze; perfect to be outdoors.
It was a mad rush to go home and have lunch so we got takeout from Tim Hortons instead. When did their wraps get so expensive and so tiny?!
As DH was at the office today, I had to make the child’s snack twice. We arrived at the final session of the Little Artists program where she spent the majority of the time beading bracelets and necklaces (just like last month). She loves beading. She made a necklace for her sister (by asking me how to spell her name), a bracelet for herself (using a pipe cleaner instead of a string), and then 2 ankle bracelets for herself which she wore right away. We didn’t do any other activity that day (too bad), but I always want to see what she wants to do instead of what *I* want to do. I often see parents at EarlyON enforce their own thinking and perspective onto the child.
Yesterday, when the kids were decorating the birdhouses we painted the prior day, a boy near us told his mom, “I don’t want to” twice but yet his mom still wanted him to decorate it and asked, “Do you want to decorate it? Put on stickers? Put on felt?” She had to ask him a third time that if he wanted to leave it the way it was and he said yes that she finally stopped and they moved on to another station.
So I learned that as much as I want the child to experience all that there is to offer at a certain event or program, she is still the one to decide what and how much and how long she wants to do something.
After the class (felt so bittersweet because it was her last class ever with just me 😢 ), we visited the other unit where we listened to the end of the circle time songs. It was then that I realized that one of her ankle bracelets fell off, so we retraced our steps and thankfully found it on the path back to the first EarlyON site.
Then she wanted to play around the tree and dirt around where we were last week. Thankfully the site was still open so we went in to wash our hands before leaving for the supermarket. It’s tedious to carry her up the stairs to where the washrooms are (she wanted to be carried for the first section, then walk by herself, and then to be carried for the third section of stairs) — I wish Loblaws didn’t have their washrooms on the second floor. Then we rode the elevator back down to get a shopping cart (to avoid what happened last week where someone returned/took our cart while we were in the washroom) and then back into the supermarket to get our shopping and Flashfood pickup done. Phew! What a day! And I still had to coordinate and communicate with three people who were coming to porch pickup items from me too.
September 2: On the Friday, we attended Creative Hands again. Again, I was so cognisant that it was the very last day of EarlyON during the week for the eldest child and her last session with her sister too during the week. Ahhh. It was another nice day but hotter than the previous day. The kids hammered flowers on cloth bags (like we did last year at the Orange Shirt Day at Aaiinin), mixed some white glue and paint on a plastic lid to see how the colours blended together, and then the eldest child spent the majority of the time at the beading station (yet again haha). She beaded some alphabet letters. This time though, I was preoccupied with chatting with a fellow mom friend who was attending the session too. I love seeing her again and chatting it up. We always have so much to say to each other.
I was impressed that the 20 month old actually did some beading too! I thought it might have been too advanced for her little fingers, but she was able to thread the beads on to a pipe cleaner without difficulty. Yay, fine motor skills!
We took both kids to the supermarket to get some groceries and pick up a Flashfood order (41 bananas for $2.11!). They sat together in the shopping cart just fine. The 20 month old was looking very sleepy and tired (and she did pass out on the way home).
That night, I had a dinner with a friend and it was nice to chat while the kids were with DH at their grandparents’ place.
We attended a 3rd birthday party at DH’s friend’s backyard over the weekend once again. This year, they rented a bouncing castle again and a popcorn machine. It was nice to enjoy a hearty homemade BBQ meal. The 3 year old vaguely remembered it from last year. It was the 20 month old’s first time partaking in the toys and bouncing castle though because last year she was still a sleeping baby in a car seat. The 20 month old liked riding in the push car but was afraid to go on the plastic slide. She’s had fears/hesitation about going down slides ever since her sister pushed her (and that time I let her go down a big slide at the indoor playground).
The 20 month old kept chewing the paper straw of the juice box so it wasn’t suckable anymore. But the 3 year old wouldn’t let her sister use her straw.
At home, we had our own first BBQ of the season too with DH’s new-ish grill. Finally lol. BBQ season is basically over but better late than never! The kids enjoyed being outside with DH and grandma to see the new vegetable beds being put in place too.
DH commented on how well the 3 year old’s scissor skills are and how she can cut right at the line. All the cutting at EarlyON and at mealtimes have been helping her improve a lot.
On Labour Day, we spent it at a new playground in Thornhill we haven’t been before with the cousins and grandparents and relatives. It was an absolutely beautiful day to spend the last day of the summer at the park playing in the sunshine and breeze. I can’t believe the 2020 pandemic kids are going to school this year!
The 3 year old needed to pee and since there wasn’t a porta potty in the park, we helped her to go in the grass instead.
So proud of her that she was able to climb one of the more difficult playground ladders and then slide down all by herself from one of the very tall slides. On her last go at it, one boy was laying down right in front of the slide and didn’t hear me from the ground when I said, “Excuse me”. Good thing uncle D climbed up to tell him to move out of the way so that the 3 year old could slide down.
We had dim sum lunch and I couldn’t believe how much the 3 year old ate. She sat so well by herself to cut up her food and eat. She had an entire pineapple BBQ pork bun, two egg tarts (but just the egg part), one siu mai, and one ha gow. That’s quite a lot for a little person. Unfortunately, the 20 month old had passed out from playing at the playground that she missed out on dim sum completely.
The 20 month old says “係” still all the time. She says “我” (ngo) and points to herself too. It’s so cute.
I signed up the 3 year old for Mandarin class this coming school year on Saturday mornings. It’s just like my childhood when I attended Mandarin class on Saturday mornings too. It’s only half a day, so she will be able to adjust just fine (especially since it doesn’t start until the end of September). I don’t recall taking Mandarin classes so young at the kindergarten age though. She will get a head start on a brand new language.
All week, we had been preparing for school by sticking her name labels with her name on it on her lunch box, water bottle, and jacket. On the final night before school starts on September 3, the child stuck the rest of the labels on her clothes, shoes, snack box, backpack, etc. She said that we didn’t want to go to school, but we reassured her that mom and dad went to school at her age too and some kids even went to school at a younger age (like 2 years old). We told her we would be back to get her and that she would be with other kids and playing there.
It is currently the night before school starts and I’m writing this blog post now. I don’t know how tomorrow will go. She already mentioned that she will cry and that she might resist the drop-off. Honestly, I think I might cry. I have to hold back the tears and not cry until she’s inside the school though. I don’t want her to see me. When I told DH I might be emotional, he said it might be a good idea for me to not be at the gate for drop-off. But no, I *want* to be part of it. I’ll try my best to stay strong.
Tomorrow is 100 minutes of school only as a transition day. It’s so short and then will be such a huge transition of 6 hours the second day. I really hope she gets used to it and doesn’t resist entering the school.
The daily early wake-ups begin. The lunch making and packing begins. Potential homework begins now too. We will have a school-aged child now. It’s surreal.
September 3: The first day of junior kindergarten for my firstborn. We woke up around 8 a.m. in order to get ready and eat breakfast with plenty of time to spare before we had to arrive at the school at 10:45 a.m. for their kindergarten transition day of 100 mins in class. The child briefly said she didn’t want to go to school, but of course we were getting ready already and I think she was just saying it to try to see if we would budge.
We took photos of the child and of our entire family on our front porch to document the first day. Everyone on social media seems to have one of those “first day of school” signs that logs their age, grade, favourite food, hobbies, height, desired future occupation, etc. However, I just don’t like doing what everyone else does, so we did not get something like that for our kids. A picture is enough although I do wonder if we should jump on the trend at times…
The child happily wore her (gigantic) backpack on her shoulders and was smiling and so happy in her photos.
We decided to drive her to school, park around a block away, and then walk the rest of the way there. It’s only about a 6-minute walk to the school from our house, but we didn’t want to tire her before the day even began. (DH and I drove her. The secondborn and grandma stayed at home.)
We parked and the child said, “That was so fast” lol. I guess she expected a longer drive to school. She came out of the car seat as usual and held my hand as we walked on the sidewalk and across the street and to the school. I was actually very surprised that she did not show any signs of resistance or say that she didn’t want to go. As DH said, she was mentally ready.
It was a beautiful day. It was 22 degrees-ish. The sun was shining. There was a breeze and a little crisp in the air that we donned our fall jackets. DH walked ahead of us to snap some photos and videos of us walking to school lol.
I had butterflies in my stomach as we waited around. I was naturally feeling anxious for her and curious how she would do at the drop-off.
As we got to the kindergarten gates, it was 10:39 a.m. We were informed by the staff that we were early and could play in the playground first and then return back to the gates at 10:45 a.m. The kindergarten gated area was full of kids playing (I guess those were the senior kindergarten kids). All right then. The child climbed up the playground and slid down the slide with her backpack on and rode the bumblebee rider that had returned from repairs. DH put some last-minute sunscreen on her too and I took off her jacket as it was warming up by this point.
As we approached the gate at 10:45 a.m., there were many more adults and kids standing and waiting already. The senior kindergarten kids had to return back to the classroom (as it was their morning recess time) before the teachers approached the gate and started letting kids in. It seemed like they were calling kids in by name as well. There were a lot of people standing in front of us. The process seemed tedious and longer than I expected. In my head, I was thinking, “Wow, this is going to take like 15 minutes! And the class time today was only 100 minutes…”
As we were waiting, the child said that after she entered the school, me and DH could go DDing. Lol, that was really funny to me. Thus, she really knew that she had to enter the school and be there by herself.
Shortly though, they called our child’s name and we went to the front and met our child’s teacher for the first time. It was a pleasure to meet her. She asked who would be doing the pickup later and I told her. She recorded it down in her clipboard.
When she said hi to my child, the child naturally started to turn away and didn’t wanted to engage. This is typical of her. The more the teacher tried to talk to her, the more she wanted to move away and not look at her. The teacher said she could hold her hand to go inside, but the child resisted. Eventually, the child told us that she didn’t want to hold the teacher’s hand and that she wanted to walk in herself. At this time, there were kids around us who were entering the gates and a couple kids who were crying.
The teacher asked if it was our first time dropping off our firstborn and it was.
The teacher told my child that they had Legos and Playdoh and other things inside for her to play with. She asked me what she liked to play with and I told her arts and crafts and Lego and Playdoh. The teacher said they had plenty inside waiting for her to play with. It still took some time before the child finally decided to walk in after the teacher.
She walked in after the teacher through the gate and just as I was watching and she looked back, I waved bye to her and it was all over. She R A N back out the gate and didn’t want to go back in anymore. She wasn’t full on bawling but looked like she wanted to cry. She started to wipe her eyes and asked for tissues. The teacher told her she had tissues inside the classroom.
We had to start the process all over again and at one point, the child was on the ground because she was resisting to go inside. Eventually, the teacher told us that, “It’s best that you guys just leave” so we turned and told the child we would be back for her later and that she had to follow the teacher. I think the teacher grabbed her hand and took her in by that point. Since we had to turn away and leave, I didn’t even see how she entered the gate and walked to the kindergarten doors.
It was done. It took 10 minutes.
I thought I would cry but I’m so glad I didn’t. I had to be brave and put on a brave face for my child. My voice did falter a few times but I didn’t shed a tear.
On our walk and drive back, DH commented that he was actually impressed with how ready she was. It was the waiting around and seeing the other kids cry that set her off. And of course, us not leaving immediately once she walked through the gates. If we left immediately, she wouldn’t have ran back. Alas, it is a rookie mistake to make as first-time kindergarten parents.
I liked how firm yet gentle the teacher was.
The short 100 minutes flew by. I kept wondering how the child was doing. By 12:10 p.m.ish, we got ready to go in the car to pick up the child. This time, grandma and the secondborn came too. The teacher wanted to meet and recognize grandma too who would be picking her up sometimes.
I didn’t want to approach the gate until it was exactly 12:25 p.m. in case the child was looking out the windows and it would trigger her to cry once she saw us. We didn’t have to worry about this because she wasn’t looking out the window at all.
There were a lot of parents and guardians waiting around the gate once again for the kids to come out. The first 3 kids who came out with the teacher wore “kindergarten superstar” headbands on their heads. I thought this was really cute but I also knew that if the child made one of those, she wouldn’t want to wear it at all (she likes to go against the grain lol).
Our child and another child came out with the teacher. She was visibly upset and DH said she looked like she had been crying the whole time because of her swollen eyes. I excitedly waved to her from the gates but she didn’t see or recognize until she was closer. Upon approaching the gate, she actually didn’t want to come to me (sad face) but she went to grandma instead and was crying. Poor thing.
The teacher told us that, “Today was tough.” She said that the child stayed at the cubbies crying the whole time. She said that she tried to take her around the classroom but she wouldn’t budge and that the more she tried to get near her, the harder the child cried. Thus, she didn’t force her. The teacher said that the other students were really sweet and brought her tissues. (Soo sweet.) However, it didn’t do much to comfort her as she was just not at ease with the whole new environment yet.
When the child saw her sister, she perked up and said her typical, “___ is a black person” phrase she likes to say. 🙄
The teacher said it will take time to adjust and that we’ll see her tomorrow.
Oh, man. What a day.
The child asked to go to the potty (thankfully there is a porta potty right near the nearby park) and asked for snacks once we got in the car. We went to No Frills to pick up our Flashfood order. Both kids sat in the shopping cart together with no issues. The secondborn looked sleepy and tired. She fell asleep in the car on the way home.
The firstborn was fine at home, eating, playing, helping grandma out in the kitchen. She did say several times that she didn’t like going to school and didn’t want to go tomorrow. However, we reassured her that we all have to go to school and that she will get used to it eventually. We praised her on doing a great job on the first day and walking alone with the teacher and entering the kindergarten gates. That honestly was a surprise win, said DH. It could have been worse.
DH said we did all we could to prepare her but ultimately this was still a brand new territory and experience for her. My dear little firstborn has not been away from us for longer than an hour since she was born. So this is definitely a frightening and novel experience. I mean can you blame her? She is only 3 years and 11 months old! Still such a small person yet to see and navigate the world.
I can’t help but wonder how she will be like tomorrow when it is the full day of school: 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.! If she cries for even half the day nonstop, that is too much. She needs to eat and go to the washroom. But if she is too scared, how will she do it? Sigh. It’s so tough.
At home, I asked her what she was thinking when she was crying today at school. (She also said that she was crying facedown at the cubbies area.) She told me that she was thinking I wouldn’t come back for her. 😥 Sigh. Is this the abandonment trauma coming back up again? I have to reassure her that we will come back for her, but I know it is still a very hard and scary thing for her to be alone.
We are also starting a new routine where she gets bathed once she comes home from school so that she is all clean, just needs to eat dinner, and then is ready for bed once she’s tired. She has to sleep early now that we have to get up by 7 to get ready to go to school at 8:30 a.m. Tonight, DH also put her in the next day’s school clothes so that we don’t have to fuss about her changing into her clothes in the morning (my friend told me this hack).
I felt so mentally drained and physically tired today. Drained from the anxiety and nervousness of the drop-off and tired because I didn’t get enough sleep last night (the secondborn wanted to sleep in our bed in the early morning and I didn’t lie very comfortably once she got in our bed).
Wish us the best tomorrow for her second day of full day kindergarten! I hope she doesn’t hold in her pee and I hope she eats at least a little. I hope she is braver tomorrow and stops crying after 10 minutes (my hope).
September 4: Second day of school for the firstborn but the very first day of all-day kindergarten, meaning from 8:30 to 3 p.m. which is 6.5 hours! She’s never been away from our presence that long before and we feared that she would not eat the entire day and not go to the washroom.
The child woke up around 7:15 a.m. and said to grandma that she didn’t want to go to school and stirred in bed for a while. She eventually went downstairs to eat the hearty breakfast that DH prepared for her and we were out the door (not as early as I hoped) and arrived right at the kindergarten gates at 8:30. She held grandma’s hand and walked from the car to the gates with no problem. No comments about not wanting to go to school or afraid or anything like that. A big step in the right direction. 👍
Many of the students were already inside the gate and lined up beside the classroom door ready to go inside. Her teacher was at the gate and said good morning to us. She brought a gooey fidget toy just for her to play with. And to top it off, it happened to be in green — her favourite colour! It was a great coincidence. The teacher said it was for her to play with so she could be calm. But of course, the child didn’t take it. This child isn’t so easy to be persuaded with flashy or shiny things. She simply won’t do what you want her to do until she is comfortable or she chooses to do it. It was getting late and time for her to enter the gate. The teacher said so because the other students were waiting to go inside.
The child didn’t want to wear her backpack today. The teacher in one quick motion grabbed her hand and I handed her the backpack (and grandma passed the green toy back to her) and through the gates they went. The ECE swiftly came to close the gates behind them and that was it lol. So fast and efficient.
Grandma and I quickly left and hid behind the big toy container to peek at her. I didn’t really want to peek at her but it was all right because she already went through the doors with the teacher. The ECE also gave us a big thumbs up from the door lol. So awesome.
And that was it. The drop-off only lasted 4 minutes this time because we couldn’t dilly-dally. The child wasn’t crying either.
I was grateful it was another beautiful late summer September day — 24 degrees out and very sunny. Grandma and I went for a Flashfood pickup and then did a grocery run before we returned home. I had not been to the grocery store at 9 a.m., so early in the morning, in such a long time lol.
Recess was around 10:25 a.m. and grandma wanted to peek at the child, so she walked to the school to take a look. The child was seen outside standing beside the wall, not playing with anything or with anybody (that’s to be expected) but she didn’t seem to be crying. Yay! Big win. When I saw the photo, I couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking. She always vocalizes what she thinks when she’s with us, so the fact that she wasn’t speaking to anybody and just standing there makes me know that she has lots of thoughts in her head.
The morning recess was 30 minutes long and she just stood there the entire time.
During the lunch time recess, the grandma again walked to the school to peek at the child lol. The child was standing in the same spot. Later, it looked like a teacher/staff member tried to speak with her. Was she crying perhaps? Or I guess the staff member just wanted to see how she was doing. I couldn’t believe that we were at the halfway mark of the full day already.
At 1 p.m., I took the secondborn to the Twinkle Toes program at EarlyON. My very first time taking this 20 month old child alone to a program. Yay, me! 1 p.m. is when the child usually gets tired and needs a nap so I planned it that way to drive early so that she could get some sleep in the car before the program began at 1:45 p.m. Like I expected, she fell asleep soon after we started driving.
I parked and let her sleep and woke up her around 1:42 and entered the building. We had done the Twinkle Toes program at the Thornhill site before but never at this one. It was heartwarming to see 5 EarlyON facilitators there leading the program. I think one of them was a trainee. Two of them were new faces to me (we also don’t attend this location often, so it’s not surprising I don’t know them).
They let the kids play for a bit before we began the program around 2 p.m. We did basically the same songs as the other Twinkle Toes program, like the “Drum says hello” introduction song, the “Tap Your Toe and Follow Me”
song by Susan Salidor (our favourite at home for weeks when we were attending the program), and other ones. The 20 month old sat in my lap to listen along but didn’t want to do some of the movements sometimes. Her stubbornness reminded me of her sister and it made me wonder if she learned it from her. I really think she was more social and more willing to do things prior to seeing her sister be hesitant and then picking it up from her. Ah, well. It will pass and eventually she will be comfortable to move along to the music too.
She also wanted me to carry her the entire time unfortunately — I wanted her to stand and dance.
I already told the facilitators that we had to leave by 2:40 because I had to oversee my older child’s pickup from school and they were completely cool with that. By the time we had the break at 2:30 and did the next song (cha cha slide), the 20 month old was actually really tired and put her head on my shoulders. So it was a good time to leave.
(During the break, the 20 month old pointed to the toy kitchen and it seemed like she wanted to play there but this program was a structured one, meant for them to follow the group. I realize she likes hand-on playing activities more than following instructions.)
I was afraid we were going to be late but we made it in time with 5 minutes to spare. The 20 month old didn’t fall asleep again on the way to the school. Grandma and DH met me at the parking lot. When we got to the kindergarten gates, all of the kinder kids were already outside with the teacher. From afar, I saw my 3 year old clutching her jacket and bag and waiting for us, looking out into the distance for us lol.
The teacher spotted us and gave us feedback about her second day. She said that the child didn’t cry at all today. Yay!! That’s a big win. However, she didn’t eat anything or go to the washroom at all (I was not surprised). She said she went outside for recess. She was at the cubby areas again for the whole day but peeked at the other kids occasionally to see what they were doing, so the teacher said that was a win too. Eventually, she’ll be comfortable enough to join the others but right now she is still navigating and understanding her new environment.
The teacher said that she brought out her go squeeze snack out for her and untwisted it for her, but the child didn’t want to eat it. Also, she said that tomorrow, she can set up a table just for her to sit at during lunch and she can turn away from the others if she is more comfortable with that. The teacher was concerned that she didn’t eat anything the whole day but the child really didn’t want to. She said she can’t bring the food over to her at the cubbies because it’ll attract ants (and not a good habit to build anyway). The teacher said she was a stubborn one but it’ll take time. I love that she is optimistic and understanding of my child. ❤
The teacher told us that they had a Mandarin-speaking and Cantonese-speaking staff member to chat with her to get her to eat at lunch, but it didn’t work. When I told a friend about this later, she exclaimed how considerate this was and really good that they tried to accommodate her.
The teacher asked if she was wearing diapers/potty trained. I told her she was potty trained and wearing pull-ups. The teacher said because they don’t have an ECE in the classroom, she isn’t supposed to touch the child to change her and that she’ll be in a spoiled pull-up the whole day. I told her it’s okay because she will need to get comfortable with the environment before she will be able to go pee.
The teacher said she looked like she fell asleep at the cubbies for a bit too during the day lol…
Also, once the 3 year old saw her sister at the gate, she was so happy and smiling and touching her socks. The teacher saw this and was happy too. She asked us how we could incorporate her sister into the school to make the child more comfortable. She said she noticed the keychain with me and her photo hanging on to her backpack. I told the teacher that we put a family picture inside the front pocket of her backpack. The teacher said she will put that in her cubby tomorrow then.
(Also, we noticed that the teacher took out her indoor shoes and extra set of clothes and left them at the school already too on the first day.) Because the child was not comfortable yet, she didn’t change out of her outdoor shoes at all. This is a small deal. First, we tackle the uncomfortable parts first.
The teacher said, “See you tomorrow!” The child didn’t want to say bye to the teacher lol, figures. I was actually impressed that the child didn’t run out of the gate to us right away. She actually waited until we were done chatting with the teacher and I gestured for her to come out of the gate that she came out. She is slowly feeling at ease with her teacher.
We were concerned that she didn’t eat, so we wanted to swiftly usher her home to eat. But the child actually wanted to go to the playground to play. She sat at the car rider and drank the go squeeze snack and some water and ate some grapes and a few bites of the sandwich DH made. And then she said she wanted to walk home. I was surprised that she still had the energy to walk home. Halfway into the walk, she was tired and grandma carried her the rest of the way home.
She ate more of the snacks when she got home but I was still surprised that she wasn’t more famished considering she didn’t eat a single thing after breakfast the whole day. She also went to pee in the toilet as usual (although one of the times, she wanted to bring the bear potty ladder up to my ensuite and by the time she did, she said she peed in her pull-up already and wanted to change out of it).
Then she had a bath and we had our dinner. Our new routine is an early dinner too to accommodate her early sleep schedule. By 8:30 p.m., she said she was tired and went up to bed. I accompanied her upstairs while grandma finished her TV show downstairs. By 9 p.m., she was asleep already. So glad.
The 20 month old is sleeping earlier nowadays because of this new routine too. I’m glad.
It is so different to just have the 20 month old at home now that the 3 year old is at school full time. I can’t believe it. It also made me think of how it means that the two kids have less time together at home now than before. It’s bittersweet.
Before dinner time, both kids played together and in the backyard too. The 3 year old is so happy to see her sister and play with her now that she knows what it’s like to not have her sister around 24/7.
I’m really proud of the 3 year old. She did a great job the second day by not crying (although who knows. Maybe she did cry a little bit here and there and the teacher didn’t notice?). I totally expected her to not eat the entire day and I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t go to the toilet yet either. Small wins. Her little peeks at the other kids means she wants to be involved with them too. It’s just a matter of time before she joins them. Perhaps I can ask the teacher to bring her a chair to sit on to be closer to the other kids instead of just staying at the cubbies? The child said she can’t see much from the cubby area.
She said she was listening to the teacher tell them a story though. I can’t wait to see her progress.
I’m still so tired today. The 20 month old didn’t sleep well last night again. She was crying so loudly and wildly at like 4 in the morning that she eventually came to our bed to sleep. Thus, with 3 people in the bed, it’s not big enough and not very comfortable. I wonder why the 20 month old is experiencing this sleep regression lately?
While at home with her this morning, I read books with her uninterrupted. But I find it easier to take care of the 3 year old than the 20 month old. The 20 month old doesn’t speak much yet still.
She likes me reading to her but is selective about the pages in each book. When she skips a page and I try to go back to it, she shakes her head and doesn’t want to. She is stubborn too about certain things.
The other day, we got some seaweed from Costco and the 20 month old has been loving it. She keeps wanting to open a pack to devour.
When we deny her of certain things, she will “throw a fit” and walk away or hide her face in the couch. She’s so dramatic lol.